Zev Sofer, EMT and head of United Hatzalah’s ambucycle unit, a veteran in mass casualty incidents and terrorist attacks, responded with other United Hatzalah volunteers to last night’s (October 3rd) terror attack near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. After arriving on the scene Sofer and his team performed a quick survey of the area and immediately began treatment.
Zev Sofer described the scene in his own words:
“I arrived to Damascus Gate three minutes after the call and entered through the gate. Everything happened really fast. 50 meters inside I saw a man on the floor not breathing. He didn’t have a pulse and had a stab wound over his heart. We immediately began CPR. Next we found a toddler who was alive, awake and crying. He had a penetrating wound on his right leg, we bandaged the wound and he was taken to be transported by ambulance to the hospital. Then we found another man with a stab wound next to his heart who we started CPR on. Right after that we found the body of the terrorist, he had a gun next to his body and he was clearly dead. Then we saw a policewoman holding a little baby. She was about six months old, and thank God I saw she was uninjured. Then we saw a woman, she was conscious and awake but in shock and had multiple stab wounds. We treated her wounds, gave her oxygen, and started an IV for blood loss.
I came with 20 other volunteers including a doctor and paramedics from the United Hatzalah ambucycle unit. Because many volunteers know the Old City, and the ambucycles let us navigate small alleyways, we were able to get to the right place very fast. There was good teamwork and each victim had about five volunteers helping them. We know there was not a lot we could do for the two men but we tried to do everything we could. The toddler was taken to the hospital. The woman was also transported to the hospital and is in critical condition. After everything, two volunteers and our doctor took the baby to her family and spoke with them about the incident.”
At the writing of the update the names of the two Israeli’s killed in the attack have been released. They are Nehemia Lavi, 41 and Aharon Benet, 22.