From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
30 ambassadors to Israel meet wounded victims in Tel Aviv hospital
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
Thirty ambassadors from European, South American, and Asian countries visit Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv in an expression of support for the wounded.
Ichilov CEO Prof. Ronni Gamzu gives the group a tour of the hospital’s underground hospital facility, where some patients are already being treated.
“This allows us to keep the medical services intact, the best way, and in a protected facility,” he explains.
Gamzu says despite 30 years as a doctor, he has never encountered anything like what happened on October 7: “I have been in wars. I have been in operations. I have gone into battle zones. Things like this I have never seen… It was terror. It was brutal.”
The ambassadors also meet with two people who were shot as Hamas terrorists attacked partygoers at the Supernova festival near Re’im.
Shirel Gabai recounts being shot in the leg as she hid with many others in a small bomb shelter. She sat curled up with dead bodies on top of her until she was rescued.
Tomer Zadik, whose arm was bandaged and in a sling tells the group that the attack had nothing to do with the Israel-Palestine conflict: “I am not a soldier. I am a civilian who went to a music festival with friends to celebrate love, peace, and freedom… What happened was an attack on humanity.”
