Singer Idan Amedi reunites with combat medic who saved him
During performance in Jerusalem, audience member informs ‘Fauda’ star that Tuvia Book, the medic who saved him, is in the crowd
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Israeli singer and actor Idan Amedi had an emotional reunion with a combat medic who treated him when he was injured in Gaza last year, after he spotted him at his concert on Saturday night.
Amedi, who is best known for his role on the hit TV show “Fauda,” was seriously injured by an explosion in January 2024 while serving in the Combat Engineering Corps reserves in Gaza. Six soldiers were killed and several others, including Amedi, were injured in the incident, which was apparently accidentally caused by troops.
On Saturday evening, as Amedi was performing his set at the Hutzot Hayotzer Festival in Jerusalem, an attendee informed him that the IDF combat medic who administered life-saving medical treatment to Amedi in the field was standing in the crowd.
Amedi immediately stepped off the stage and made his way to the barriers where the medic, Tuvia Book, was standing.
The two embraced to the cheers and applause of the audience, as Amedi urged the camera crew to feature Book on the large screens behind the stage.
“I love you,” Amedi told the visibly moved man. “I will never be able to thank you enough. Let me just give you a hug.”
מרגש: במהלך ההופעה שלו בפסטיבל חוצות היוצר בירושלים, קלט עידן עמדי בקהל את החובש שטיפל בו בתקרית בה נפצע בעזה. הוא מיד ניגש אליו וחיבק אותו וביקש מהקהל להריע לו pic.twitter.com/consljY0Nx
— Gil mishali גיל משעלי (@gilmishali) August 16, 2025
Book, who is the oldest combat medic serving in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war with Hamas, told Channel 12 on Sunday that he had decided to attend the music festival as IDF service members were able to enter for free.
“There were thousands of soldiers there, we were all enjoying ourselves and then suddenly, Idan Amedi said, ‘I hear there’s a medic here who treated me,’ and I said, ‘Whoa, is that me?'”
“I raised my hand and he said, ‘I’m coming!’ and ran to me,” Book said.
The combat medic said that when he and his team were treating the 37-year-old star in the field, they had no idea who he was and had placed a medical bracelet on him that read “anonymous, 27 years old.”
Book, a Jewish educator, serves with the reserve combat medical extraction unit Palmar Asaf.
In September 2024, he wrote about his experiences in Gaza for the Times of Israel Blogs.
He recalled that when his medical team reached Amedi in Gaza, he was “unresponsive and not breathing,”
“Unless you have been in a war zone, it is hard to describe the experience,” wrote Book, reflecting on his experiences serving with Palmar Asaf.
“Once we put on the IDF uniform we are here for one purpose, and one purpose alone: to defend our homeland from the scourge of Hamas. We are all focused on what we have in common, and not what divides us,” he wrote.
Amedi made his full return to the stage with a sold-out show in Jerusalem this past February, more than a year after he was injured, during which he spoke in depth about his experience.
He told the crowd that he felt like he had lived “a whole life in one year.”
“You ask what you go through in a year like that? You die and then suddenly you are given life again,” Amedi said at the time.
He told the crowd that the shrapnel that had pierced his body “missed the spinal cord by two millimeters.”
Amedi has since sold over 60,000 tickets for an upcoming nine-show tour around Israel. He announced earlier this year that he would not be returning for season 5 of the hit Netflix show “Fauda,” citing his ongoing recovery.
The Times of Israel Community.