Kan 7.10.360 | Rabbi Shahar Butzhak from Ofakim - October 7

Rabbi Shahar Butzhak, his wife Avishai and their six children aged 16-3, as well as two guests from the "Kav Lachaim" Nonprofit Organization, who are staying with them on Shabbat, wake up to the sound of alarms and rocket barrages

The Butzhak family lived for about 14 years in Moshav Mivtahim, in the Gaza Envelope, and even after moving to Ofakim, Rabbi Butzhak remained a member of the security squad in the Moshav. Upon receiving a message from the Ravshatz about a “complex event,” Rabbi Butzhak arranges to go toward Mivtahim. The moshav's Ravshatz, Dan Assoulin, was killed that morning in fighting with terrorists

The Rabbi hears gunfire close to his home, takes his personal gun and identification cap and asks his wife, children and guests to enter the safe room. He leaves the house and begins to run towards the source of the shooting. Butzhak joins Sgt. Nahurai Saeed, a soldier on leave who was staying at his parents' house, and another security force member. Together, they fight three terrorists. During the battle, Rabbi Butzhak entered a narrow street

Neighborhood residents Viktor Rachmilov and his daughter Natalie drive through the narrow streets where the battle between the terrorists and the makeshift team of Rabbi Butzhak is being waged. Their car camera records Rabbi Butzhak. Victor and Natalie are wounded by gunfire just minutes later

The three move from shelter to shelter and try to reach the terrorists. When Butzhak sees a figure in front of him, he points the weapon at the man, but stops when he notices that he is wearing an IDF uniform. The man dressed in an IDF uniform is a terrorist who manages to shoot first, wounding the Rabbi in the left thigh. Butzhak shouts to his friends: “I'm injured, a bullet in the leg.” He lies down on his stomach and takes cover behind a parked car. A few minutes later Nahurai Saeed was shot and killed next to Rabbi Butzhak. The third member of the team continues to wage battle against the terrorists

Rabbi Butzhak sends a voice message on the WhatsApp group of neighborhood residents, warning of terrorists. The message is sent without sound, but it comes from a premise that if they see that it sends a message on Shabbat, they will understand that something unusual has happened

After being wounded, a security force member who was with Butzhak alerts a policeman named Itamar Elwes who comes to him under fire. Elwes picks up Butzhak and takes him to a nearby house. The family brings them inside, and in the living room of the house, Rabbi Butzhak improvised a tourniquet from clothes When he realizes that his injury is serious and that he cannot return to fighting, he hands his gun to another civilian. Butzhak is bleeding and in severe pain, but the Magen David Adom cannot extract him

From the moment he was injured, Rabbi Butzhak repeatedly called the Magen David Adom, but he received an answer that he could not be reached

Rabbi Butzhak calls his neighbor Gad Yisrael Amar, a medic in the United Hatzala, and asks for his help. Gad arrives accompanied by armed civilians who secure him. They bandage the Rabbi and give him a tourniquet. They load him into the van of the family in whose house they barricaded themselves. During the trip, the van absorbs gunfire, but they manage to reach the Gilat intersection, where an ambulance is waiting to take Butzhak to Soroka Hospital