Star singer, ‘Fauda’ actor Idan Amedi seriously hurt fighting in Gaza
Reservist, who was airlifted to hospital on Monday and reportedly underwent lengthy surgery, said Tuesday to have regained consciousness; father says his life is not in danger
Star singer and “Fauda” actor Idan Amedi was seriously injured while fighting as an Israel Defense Forces reservist in the central Gaza Strip, and was airlifted to a hospital on Monday, where he was sedated and receiving treatment.
Amedi’s father confirmed the injury, telling the Walla news site late Monday that his son’s life was no longer in danger.
The actor’s cousin Ayelet also posted an update on Instagram and asked the public to pray for his recovery.
Reports Tuesday said Amedi had regained consciousness and was responsive, with his condition now listed as moderate.
A spokesperson for Sheba Medical Center, where Amedi is hospitalized, did not confirm those reports. However, Avi Issacharoff, a co-writer of TV hit series “Fauda,” in which Amedi plays an elite IDF soldier operating deep in the West Bank and Gaza, tweeted that “on such a terrible day, there is a drop of light: Idan has woken up and is responding and his condition is defined as moderate.”
Amedi was serving as an IDF reservist in the Combat Engineering Corps when he was injured, reportedly sustaining shrapnel wounds all over his body.
He was injured in an incident in which six other reservists, all combat engineers, were killed when explosives intended for demolishing a tunnel detonated during activity in central Gaza’s al-Bureij refugee camp.
Amedi was brought to Sheba in Ramat Gan at about 4 p.m. on Monday and underwent urgent, serious and lengthy surgery, according to Hebrew media.
Shortly before he was wounded, Amedi was interviewed in Gaza by an Israeli television reporter, who he told he was “a little tired, but fine.”
“It’s weird to see you here [amid the fighting in Gaza]. You suddenly feel so clean to me, I don’t know how to act with this,” Amedi joked with the Channel 12 news correspondent.
Turning to the camera, Amedi then said, “we are working hard for everyone’s security. We really love you.”
He was also asked about the tunnels his unit was working to uncover.
“It’s crazy, what they built here,” he said. “The operation here is on a very central [Hamas tunnel] route. We found kilometers of tunnels here, weaponry, even special weaponry. We’ve been busy the past two days trying to destroy it.”
In a recent video Amedi recorded from Gaza, he said, “After 90 days of fighting, we are continuing to destroy the short-range missile sites, the launch sites, and the command facilities of the Hamas terrorist organization.”
He also urged a halt to internal dissent among Israelis: “I join my brother reservists in calling on the politicians, all the media outlets, and everyone: Whoever doesn’t have something good to say, simply shut your mouths. The people of Israel live.”
On October 12, amid a call-up of more than 300,000 reservists — days after Hamas-led terrorists in Gaza stormed the border with Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping another 240, mostly civilians — Amedi posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, wearing military fatigues and saying: “This isn’t a scene from Fauda, it’s real life.”
— Fauda Official (@FaudaOfficial) October 12, 2023
“We are here to protect our children, our families and our homes, and I want to promise you that we won’t surrender until we win,” he said in the video.
A musician, songwriter, and actor, Amedi was also filmed singing for IDF troops in Ma’alot in October.
Fighting has raged between the IDF and Gaza-ruling Hamas since Israel launched its military campaign in response to the October 7 onslaught, vowing to destroy the terror group.
Amedi, 35, was born and raised in Jerusalem, to Kurdish immigrants. Extremely proud of his heritage, Amedi always ends his concerts with a song in Kurdish.
Idan Amedi is a big star in Israel and not only -a hot,talented singer, a great actor- he played Sagi Tzur in the hit “Fauda”,a must watch on Netflix.
But today, his family, friends and fans are praying for his life-he was seriously injured while fighting in Gaza.
Idan, get well… pic.twitter.com/enfyiY8P5S— miha schwartzenberg (@miradulescu) January 8, 2024
One of his best-known songs, titled “Warrior’s Pain,” describes the post-traumatic experience of a soldier coming back from war. The song made a fast run of the charts in 2010, after he performed it on the Israeli music competition show “Kochav Nolad,” or “A Star is Born.”
Amedi, who is married with two children, performed his mandatory military service in the IDF Combat Engineering Corps’ 603rd Battalion from 2006 to 2009.
