Couple who lost legs on Oct. 7 walk down the aisle together
Ben Binyamin and Gali Segal were maimed by terrorists’ grenades; after months of rehabilitation, they were wed on Thursday
A couple who both lost their right legs during the Hamas October 7 attack on southern Israel were married on Thursday after spending months in rehabilitation together.
Ben Binyamin and Gali Segal’s journey of recovery was originally reported upon by Channel 12 in November, and the network revisited the couple as they embarked on their special day.
In November, Segal told Channel 12, “We want to come to the wedding walking. Only then will we get married.”
The pair met at a bar six years ago along with friends, after each went through a breakup. He took her phone number, and after a few months they began dating.
The two, who became engaged a week before October 7, were attending the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im — partly to celebrate their engagement — when Hamas terrorists stormed the Gaza border and began their massacre at the rave.
When the rocket barrages began at the start of the attack, the couple fled along with a friend and encountered a police officer who motioned for them to enter a roadside shelter near Alumim Junction, where many other rave attendees had gathered.
After a short while terrorists arrived at the scene and began firing at the entrance. Binyamin and Segal were toward the back of the structure and were not hit. But then the terrorists hurled grenades inside, at which point they both lost consciousness. Miraculously, the terrorists did not kill them afterward.
When Segal woke up she realized that her right leg had been blown off and started screaming. Binyamin — in a similar state of shock after suffering from nearly the same injury — urged her to save her energy.
A police officer arrived at the scene shortly afterward and helped secure the area. He flagged down a car evacuating the wounded to take them to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
The two were evacuated in critical condition separately to the hospital and thought they would never see each other again, they told Channel 12.
“They took me out with the bed toward the room, and then I see Ben two beds next to me,” Segal said. “The moment both of us understood that we were alive was a major weight off our chests.”
Shortly afterward, they understood they had both lost the same leg. “There are days that I don’t even want my family to see me. But I don’t have a problem with Ben because what I’m going through, he’s going through,” Segal said.
The two began working on their wedding dance while going through physiotherapy and then set their wedding date for July 25. By April, the two had already left the rehabilitation center in Tel Hashomer and moved back home.
“This kind of injury [changes you],” Segal said. “You learn about yourself from the beginning. It’s like being born again, only as an adult.”
“It’s frustrating when you come to do something you think you can do, like suddenly bending down on your knees, or I don’t know what, and you just can’t,” Binyamin told Channel 12. “I used to do everything, you know, by myself. Now, I have to call friends for everything or ask my parents. Today, I depend on them. It makes you feel a frustration that I can’t even explain. You just want to take your leg or the prosthetic and break it or something. Just out of anger.
Said Segal: “Yes, but I think that despite all the difficulties, we are a strong couple. The fact that we are going through this together is incredible. But on the other hand, we also need to maintain our relationship, the romance and things like that which keep a relationship going.”
The two now both walk with a prosthetic leg. Segal had hers specially decorated white with sparkles for the wedding.
Binyamin, who before the injury was a professional soccer player in the Israeli second division, now plays for the Israeli national amputee soccer team. “There’s a difference, but it’s similar,” Ben said of his new sport.
The entire medical staff that treated the couple over the long months was invited to the wedding, and all arrived.
Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz, director of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, told Channel 12 it was “the first time I’ve come to the wedding of patients. From the meeting at the trauma room, at the time of greatest difficulty, to this place that symbolizes happiness and a continuation.”
The event was also graced by singer Shlomi Shabat, who met the couple at the hospital and promised he’d perform at their wedding.
Orly, Segal’s mother, said: “They’re building a home, they’re building a family and there’s nothing more beautiful. Despite all the pain and the insane journey we’ve been through this year. They’ve won.”
The Times of Israel Community.