As soon as the attack started, and even before his emergency orders arrived, 53-year-old Col. (Res.) Leon Bar of blessed memory started southward out of Gedera. When he heard reports from the festival site in Re’im, he drove to the spot and brought the wounded away to communities such as Patish and Netivot and to Barzilai, Soroka, and Kaplan hospitals. Between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. he evacuated dozens of injured people. The next day, he decided to return. This time his son Omer, who had recently completed his service in the paratroops as a company subcommander, decided to join him. By then there were no more wounded people at the site, but the area was strewn with corpses. The two men contacted the Zaka rescue and recovery organization and reported the locations of dozens of bodies for the sake of proper burial. On their way home, on Route 232 near the Black Arrow Memorial — a monument located between Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the city of Sderot — they saw a police car with bullet holes and they alighted to see whether someone there needed help. A terrorist in hiding shot them both. Omar was hit in both legs but managed to summon help. His father, Leon Bar, did not survive. May he rest in peace.
