Newly recordings shed light on final hours of Amit Mann, hero paramedic killed on Oct. 7

Newly released recordings reveal the final hours of Amit Mann, a Magen David Adom paramedic and paramedic course instructor, who was murdered on October 7, 2023, by terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri, as she desperately tried to save victims of the attack and herself.

The call recordings were published by Channel 12 on Monday and piece together Mann’s attempts to get help from police and from Magen David Adom as Hamas terrorists closed in on Be’eri’s dental clinic, where Mann had arrived shortly after 7 a.m. and set up a makeshift hospital for the wounded.

During the first call to the police, her voice quivered as she tried to explain the magnitude of what was happening.

“I don’t understand what is going on,” she said to the dispatcher. “There are a lot of wounded people here, and there are a lot of dead people here. There is still active shooting here, and there are no forces that can evacuate the wounded?”

“I think there are still terrorists walking around, these are the reports we are receiving from the entire kibbutz,” she continued. “What can we do? Is the army here? Are there police officers here?”

The dispatcher answered that they were aware of the situation and urged her to keep calm, stay inside and not to go outside. “We’re on our way to control the situation,” he added.

“Just tell me you’re here,” she answered in distress. He tried to calm her, telling her to “take it easy” and that “slowly they would try to take control.”

Amit’s sister, Haviva Mann, told Channel 12 in Monday’s segment that hearing the recordings broke her heart. After that particular call, she said, Amit pulled herself together and helped people in the facility.

She cared for them while also documenting nearby gunshots during the calls as the attack on the kibbutz unfolded. Mann was trapped in the Be’eri dental clinic with the injured and dead for many hours before the terrorists succeeded in breaking in.

The release of the recordings comes after efforts by families of victims to access records of their loved ones during their final moments. Hamas terrorists led an invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They also abducted 251 hostages.

According to Channel 12, Mann made a final recorded call to police at 10:41 a.m. with a plea for help to come, after making seven calls to MDA.

“Listen, there’s a terrorist infiltration in Be’eri,” Mann said. “Get an ambulance or police here! Urgent! Urgent!” She told the MDA dispatcher that he was talking to a colleague of his, a fellow MDA paramedic.

During another conversation with MDA, she explained that she didn’t have much equipment to care for people. Then she said: “Quiet, there is a man here.” There was still shooting going on, she added.

The dispatcher encouraged her to keep doing what she could. “Amit, you’re great. You’re on it, OK?” she said to Mann.

Mann’s family has called on the government to create a database of all phone calls made by victims to various authorities during the onslaught, after they learned by chance about three calls Mann made that were previously unknown to them.

Channel 12 reported in February that Mann’s sister, Haviva, had discovered the existence of the recordings when she contacted the MDA ambulance service to receive information on the exact times her sibling made phone calls to its hotline on October 7 to update the presentation on Amit’s story that she was giving to audiences around the country.

In their response, MDA gave information on the seven conversations Amit had with the MDA hotline. Until then, Haviva Mann only knew of four conversations, prompting the demand for a database.

Shortly after 2 p.m. on October 7,  Haviva was able to call Amit, and that would be the last time the two of them would speak on the phone. Amit told her that she had been shot before the call disconnected.

Mann ultimately was killed in the makeshift triage center, alongside Dr. Daniel Levi and three members of the kibbutz security team — Eitan Hadad, Shachar Zemach and Gil Buyum.

In all, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed in Be’eri — a community of around 1,000 residents — and a further 30 residents and two additional civilians were taken hostage from there by the Hamas terrorists. At least 125 homes in the community were damaged and destroyed amid the fighting.

Haviva Mann said the recordings are intimate but important to publish, saying they were needed to bear witness at a time when the government was still refusing to set up a state commission of inquiry into the massacre.

“Certainly at this time, when they try so hard to move away from the truth as time goes by and we don’t get answers. We’re still in a loop of that day, stuck there,” she said.

She said “those who bore some responsibility that day sitting in office” are focused on “continuing on to the next election terms.”

“There are no requests for forgiveness, no taking responsibilities and no lessons learned so that this won’t happen again,” Mann continued. “All this evidence must be published.”