Blog
Nati Hakshur – “I have 2 birthdays”
Nati Hakshur, a member of Beit Halochem: “I have 2 birthdays. That’s something I love to say all the time. It’s a way to show my family and friends, how I am dealing with my injury (almost 10 years ago) – I won, I survived and I will never give up.
I was injured by a Grad rocket. This rocket was fired from Gaza to my home town Be’er-Sheva. I was spending that weekend at my parents’ after I hadn’t seen them for a month I wanted to spend some time with my family and friends.
I wanted to meet Lior, my best friend and neighbor before he was flying abroad. We met outside because we wanted to have some fresh air; it was a hot summer’s night. We sat on a bench next to our houses, we calculated the distance in case of a siren – because this reality we have today – was also had it 10 years ago.
Suddenly we heard the sirens and started to run towards our houses, but the explosions started too early, we automatically lay down on the floor, in the middle of the street just a few meters from the entrance to Lior’s house. We laid down on the street and heard more and more explosions above our heads. As we looked up we saw the whole sky full of Iron Dome missiles. We wanted to go into Lior’s house because we felt unsafe in this situation, so we got up and few seconds after that, the rocket landed, 10 meters behind us – on a parking garage. I will not get in to all the details of what happened to me at that moment but I found myself on the ground, I lost my right leg, severely injured my left leg and I was losing a lot of blood. I was sure that I was going to die.
Luckily, there were so many good people that saved me and Lior. I almost lost both of my legs. Lior got a lot of shrapnel all over his body, mostly in his legs, and most of them are still there because it’s too risky to remove them. We were talking between us until the neighbors and our families came out of the shelters to help us.
We were very lucky, we could have been killed on this horrible evening – as Yossi Shushan. He was on his way to pick up his pregnant wife back home, and he stopped his car, ran a few meters and lay down on the floor exactly next to where the rocket landed which killed him
Nati is one story of many. Unfortunately, new members have joined our organization. In the past 10 days the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have fired from Gaza more than 5000 rockets towards Israel. Targeting innocent people indistinctively, Jews, Arabs, and Christians. 13 civilians were killed; one of them, an IDF soldier, Sgt. Omer Tabib, a fighter in the Nahal Brigade, was killed by an anti-tank missile. 322 people wounded, amongst them IDF soldiers.
We keep on fighting to defend our homeland and families. The painful price paid is reflected in the thousands of war disabled and victims of terror that fighting daily in the battle after the war for rehabilitation. We will continue supporting them every day of their lives, providing them with the best rehabilitation system, even when this particular operation, one of seemingly never ending operations, ends. Show your solidarity and donate to our vital cause. It is only thanks to your support that the ZDVO – Beit Halochem can continue to make a difference in their lives.
