Late Wednesday night, a violent brawl broke out close to a church in the town of Kafr Yasif in northern Israel. A man in his twenties was stabbed in the abdomen and passersby called emergency services for help.
United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs Moner Kawas and Jawad Mubarki were sleeping in their homes when they received the alert from the organization’s dispatch and Command center. Both EMTs jumped out of their beds and drove to the scene.
Moner arrived in his ambucycle from the nearby village of Julis, but Jawad drove his car from within Kafr Yasif. They arrived at the location at approximately the same time, and after making their way through the agitated crowd at the scene, they reached the victim, who was in serious condition after suffering three stab wounds as well as fractures in both his legs.
The volunteer EMTs immediately started to apply bandages to stop the bleeding, and Moner immobilized the victim’s fractured legs to prevent further injury. Thanks to their efforts, the man’s situation stabilized. When the ambulance arrived sometime later, the man was transported to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Moner reflected: “Saving lives is particularly rewarding. Jew or Arab, it doesn’t make any difference. Leaving one’s wife and kids in the middle of the night is not easy but in those situations, you don’t think twice, you just do what you have to do.”
Jawad added: “I’m a trained ambulance driver and have worked in a medical center while volunteering with United Hatzalah for over five years. Unfortunately, I have had to attend to victims of violence too many times in this community as well as others around it. These are never easy cases to respond to but I want to help others and thus I have no other choice. I will continue doing what I know best to save lives.”
