For 12 straight hours on October 7, 2023, First Sergeant Roy fought terrorists who had infiltrated the Zikim military base, three miles north of the Gaza Strip border. He watched friends die in front of him and kept fighting. Late that night, when he was finally ordered to evacuate, he ran over a mile under live fire, dodging bullets the entire way.
When that battle ended, the real struggle began.
The horrors of the battlefield never left him. Roy developed post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) and desperately needed treatment to rebuild his life. But when he turned to Israel’s Ministry of Defense for recognition and support, he ran into a wall of bureaucracy that nearly broke him.
October 7: Zikim Base
On the morning of October 7, Roy woke to the sound of sirens tearing through the Zikim base in southern Israel. He immediately understood this was not just another rocket alert. Something far worse was happening. He and his fellow soldiers ran into a shelter to take cover from the rockets. But within moments, gunfire erupted across the base. Without hesitation, Roy and his unit rushed out to engage the terrorists who had breached Zikim’s perimeter. For hours, he fought dozens of militants with whatever weapons were available, risking his life while watching fellow soldiers get wounded and killed beside him.
Despite the chaos, Roy kept his composure. In the middle of the firefight, he made sure every younger soldier around him called their parents.
“I wanted their families to know they were okay,” he says. “In the middle of all that, it mattered.”
Close to midnight, after hours of fierce fighting, the decision was made to set parts of the base on fire to flush out any terrorists still hiding inside. The soldiers still there were ordered to flee.
The moment the order came, Roy jumped up and ran. Over roughly a mile of open ground, he dodged live fire and whistling bullets as terrorists tried to cut him down. When he finally reached the base gates, the first thing he did was inform a commander that other soldiers were still trapped inside and warn him not to mistake them for enemies.
The Mind and Body Keep Score
Even after October 7, Roy continued his compulsory service and fulfilled every mission assigned to him during the war. He never stopped to process what he had witnessed. Then, in June 2024, while serving in the reserves, Roy began suffering from unexplained internal bleeding in his abdomen. Test after test came back inconclusive.
“One of the doctors said the bleeding might not be caused by a physical problem at all, but by emotional distress,” Roy says. “Sometimes the digestive system reacts faster than the mind to repressed stress.”
He kept searching for a physical explanation. But then the nightmares started.
“It was as if my body had started expressing the severe trauma I had pushed aside,” he says. “The moment my mind had a little more space, and the most intense days of fighting had eased, everything crashed down on me. The nightmares, the racing heart, the night sweats. Every little noise made me jump. I began to understand that this was PTSI, and that I needed treatment.”
Roy turned to the Rehabilitation Department of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, seeking recognition as a soldier suffering from service-related PTSI, along with the treatment and rehabilitation he needed.
Instead, he found himself in a maze of bureaucracy.
The Department demanded endless documents, forms, authorizations, and medical opinions to prove the connection between his service and his condition. Roy felt himself drowning.
“This fight was too much for me,” he says. “I had to prove that I went through trauma. I fought for the country, and now I have to fight to get what I deserve? It was insulting. I gave everything, and now I have to beg for help.”
A Blind Lawyer Who Sees What Others Won’t
That was when Roy connected with attorney Gai Akoka of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.
Akoka has been legally blind since birth. He doesn’t see the world like most people. After overcoming significant hurdles to memorize his law school curriculum and pass the bar exam, he chose to leverage his degree for the public good. Now, under the banner of JIJ, he has become known as the “Defender of the Wounded,” representing veterans in the rooms where most lawyers dare not go.
He accompanies families to medical committees, sometimes held in hospital rooms while the soldier is still unconscious, to fight for fair disability recognition. He appears before Knesset committees to draft legislation and file Supreme Court petitions to fix systemic failures in how Israel treats its wounded.
“From the moment I read Roy’s story, I had no doubt this was a classic case of PTSI (post-traumatic stress injury) that erupted as a direct result of his military service,” Akoka says. “The Rehabilitation Department had to recognize it. For more than a year, we received no answer. I appealed again and again, through formal and informal channels, to the head of the recognition unit, to the director of the department, and to the Minister of Defense, urging them to correct the injustice done to Roy.”
After a prolonged legal battle, combined with sustained pressure on the Rehabilitation Department, the decision finally came: Roy was fully recognized as suffering from military service-related PTSI. He could finally begin treatment and recovery.
“I’m glad the Rehabilitation Department finally saw me and recognized what I went through on October 7,” Roy says. “These are things I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Without the Institute’s help, I would still be in the same place today.”
Roy Is Not Alone
Since October 7, over 22,000 Israeli soldiers have come home carrying wounds that may never fully heal. Some are visible: amputations, paralysis, shattered limbs. Others, like Roy’s, are invisible. On paper, the State of Israel promises to stand by its wounded. In reality, the road to disability recognition can take more than five years of medical committees, appeals, paperwork, and legal procedures.
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice is the only organization in Israel providing free legal aid to these soldiers. JIJ’s lawyers take no fees. Since October 7, they have represented over 400 wounded IDF soldiers and reservists, winning $10 million in disability benefits that go directly to the soldiers and their families.
“Roy is not an isolated case,” Akoka says. “Many of these soldiers are fighting not only physical injuries and PTSI, but a bureaucracy that too often treats them as files instead of human beings. They answered the call to defend Israel. The least the state owes them is recognition, rehabilitation, and dignity.”
One of Akoka’s most painful current battles: in the last two years, 77 soldiers and reservists have died by suicide as a result of their service, yet the state does not recognize them as fallen soldiers. JIJ has drafted a legal amendment to change that and ensure their families receive the recognition they deserve.
More Than a Legal Aid Organization
JIJ’s work extends well beyond wounded soldiers. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice is an Israeli legal and research institute with United Nations Consultative Status that has been fighting for civil rights in Israel and for Israel’s legitimacy on the world stage for over 20 years.
Since October 7, JIJ has served over 5,000 survivors of terrorism through mobile legal clinics set up in the hotel lobbies that became shelters for displaced families. They filed a Supreme Court petition on behalf of 188 families whose children survived the Nova Festival massacre, seeking official recognition as survivors of terrorism.
They brought Israeli survivors to testify before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and in February 2026, they submitted a groundbreaking 61-page report documenting hostage-taking as a form of torture under international law.
Their award-winning documentary, SATURDAY October 7, which features survivor testimonies and has won 10 international film festival awards, is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
During the 12 Day War between Israel and Iran, JIJ’s lawyers worked from inside bomb shelters, filing a Supreme Court petition to expand shelter access for elderly and disabled Israelis who had no protection. They didn’t stop when the missiles started.
What You Can Do
Roy pauses before saying what many soldiers feel but rarely say out loud:
“I know there are many fighters like me. Men who fought like lions in this war and are now being forced to fight walls of bureaucracy just to receive what is rightfully theirs. JIJ’s help saved my life. I hope they can continue helping everyone who needs it.”
You can help make sure they do.
For $5,000, you can Adopt a Wounded Soldier and fully underwrite one soldier’s legal journey, from first Ministry of Defense contact through appeals, hearings, and securing full disability recognition. These cases can take up to five years, and your gift covers the entire process. Donors are confidentially matched with a case and receive updates at key milestones.
Every gift of any size helps keep JIJ’s doors open for soldiers like Roy.