By Sarah Pachter
On October 7, IDF commander Shraga R. survived a helicopter crash under fire—unknowingly diverting terrorists and saving a kibbutz in a chilling twist of fate.
On October 7th, Shraga R., a 22-year-old IDF commander, was asleep on base at Nevi Musa, located between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. It was Shabbat morning. At 6:00 AM, one of Shraga’s friends walked in, screaming, “There are rockets!” Everyone rolled over, exhausted. Shraga grumbled, “Dude can you please leave? We went to sleep three hours ago.”
At 7:00 AM, an officer ran in and pulled Shraga aside. “Get the guys ready—there has been a terrorist attack. We need to leave ASAP.” “Nobody knew the full scale yet,” Shraga explained in an Aish.com interview, but some soldiers had turned their phones on and saw a few videos in Sderot. They saw that there were terrorists on the ground. People were dead, and they needed backup.”
Shraga woke the soldiers up and got them into formation. They had no grenades, or anything heavy—just bullets. Buses were supposed to arrive at 9:15 but a decision was made that it was too dangerous to dispatch them. At this point, the soldiers were skeptical and assumed the buses not showing up was part of a drill. Shraga explained, “Tons of soldiers said, ‘Oh, this isn’t real. This is how they are starting our training stimulator.’”
A higher-up commander called a friend in the Air Force, asking for transportation. “Within the hour, they arranged for a helicopter to come in.” Before taking off, the soldiers were told to hand in their phones. The IDF didn’t want anyone being tracked or posting on social media. Shraga began texting his family before leaving the base, but erased it because he didn’t want to scare them unnecessarily.
The Helicopter Pilot was Nervous
They headed toward the helicopters, piling 60 soldiers into the chopper which could fit about 40 soldiers comfortably. The pilot was nervous and wasn’t sure they could even take off. Soldiers asked, “Can we get commands? Instructions?” But no one knew anything yet. They were one of the first big forces headed to the area and were told, “We don’t have information to give you. We just know it’s bad.”
Shraga sat toward the back of the helicopter near the window. The helicopter flew low and the pilot was looking for somewhere safe to land. Shraga saw smoke, small fires, and guys on motorcycles racing around. Then, out of nowhere, they heard a machine gun. It pierced through the helicopter.
“Our helicopter’s gas tank got hit by an RPG. I look behind us, and see the pilot dropping our fuel tanks so we wouldn’t explode.” The helicopter shut off and started falling quickly. “With only a little bit of gas left, the pilot was able to crash-land the helicopter. We slammed into the ground and bounced a few times like a ping-pong ball.” The pilot tried opening the back door but it wouldn’t budge because the hydraulics were down. Smoke was building up inside. They were all trapped and it was just a matter of time before it exploded.
Nowhere to Take Cover
“Guys started climbing out of the front of the helicopter. Finally, the pilot was able to manually open the back. We climbed out and were getting shot at. We were in the middle of the field with nowhere to take cover. There was no high or low ground, no trees, and the bullets were flying towards us.”
Shraga and another commander began running and returning fire to gain cover. Then Shraga suddenly then realized that he wasn’t near his combat buddy. “Everyone in the combat unit has a buddy. You don’t leave each other’s side, 24/7, especially during war. You even go to the bathroom together.” Shraga didn’t see him anywhere. He realized he was still stuck in the helicopter. Over radio, he told an officer to go check the helicopter. Sure enough, Shraga’s buddy was stuck inside because one of the cables of the helicopter was latched onto his bag. The officer unhooked him and he climbed out. Thirty seconds later another RPG hit the helicopter and it exploded.
No One Was Killed in the Explosion
Everyone made it out in time. No one was killed in the explosion. They later found out that their crash managed to save an entire kibbutz. The helicopter crashed between Kibbutz Be’eri and Alumim. Because they landed there, a group of terrorists got scared and ran away- never entering Kibbutz Alumim. Shraga explained, “My cousin actually lives in that kibbutz. She called his parents and said, ‘A helicopter landed right in front of our kibbutz and scared the terrorists away.’” His dad proudly shared, “That was my son.”
After escaping the crash and explosion, the unit needed to deal with the danger of being in an open field. “Heavy fire is another way of getting cover. You move like a centipede, each group dropping and rising. It gives you a few seconds to start running and moving. Then you drop again and shoot again.”
Nothing Prepares You for the Real Thing
The soldiers had never faced combat before and reacted very differently. Some soldiers were shooting back. Others were frozen with fear. The officers were giving orders, trying to keep people grounded. “Even if you go through combat training, nothing prepares you for the real thing.” Shraga stayed calm. “I didn’t have time to process. You just have to make sure they’re safe. And if they get hurt, you help them.”
At this point, they realized their enemy was Hamas because their guns make a distinct sound. The soldiers moved to a small wooded area, about 200 meters from the crash, and regrouped. The officer was on the phone, coordinating next steps. Just then, a second helicopter landed behind theirs. It picked up the wounded and the pilot, and dropped off another 60 soldiers.
The soldiers began running toward Kibbutz Be’eri. “It was the longest run of my life.” Shraga said. He grabbed an injured soldier’s machine gun and started running with it. Even though he had to carry additional weight, it gave him more firepower than normal. The soldiers had no idea what they were about to walk into. As they got closer, they passed burnt corpses and melted cars. The scene was much worse than they expected.
They saw many police officers standing around outside the kibbutz. Shraga asked, “Why aren’t you going in?” “We don’t have enough manpower. Our commander told us to stay out here and help with rescues.” Shraga gave a policewoman his name and number. “If anything happens, tell my parents I love them.” He didn’t know if he’d make it out.
They moved in formation, looking for other soldiers to try to get a clearer picture of what was going on. They saw a fellow soldier in army gear. Shraga’s officer yelled, “Are you okay?” But when the soldier turned to face them, they realized he was actually a terrorist holding different weaponry. They took him out. Realizing that Hamas terrorists were dressed as IDF soldiers made everything more complicated.
What They Saw Was Horrific
Shraga and his unit moved methodically, house by house. What they saw was horrific, some of which remains classified. Entire families killed in safe rooms. Women violated; children murdered.
They cleared the kibbutz for hours, pulling out families that were still alive. It took a long time because many were too scared to open the doors and let the IDF in. Shraga found a couple with their young son who was scared and hungry. He offered him his sour sticks but the boy refused. Shraga joked with the parents, “I've never seen a kid refuse a sour stick!” But at that moment, Shraga understood that these families didn't need food or water, they just needed to feel safe.
A Narrow Escape
While fighting in the Kibbutz, Shraga was in a firefight and taking cover behind a wall. He happened to look left, through a gate, and saw a terrorist ten feet away, pointing a gun at his head. The terrorist smiled, then pulled the trigger. Shraga described that moment, “Everything just slowed down. You know the moment you know you are going to die, how your whole life runs through your mind? Everything you did. Were you a good person or a bad person? Did you do enough?” The bullet hit the gate and missed him completely.
Shraga had many other close calls. Grenades were repeatedly thrown at him. Shraga tried to kick them away but more kept coming. Miraculously the grenade he couldn't kick away in time never exploded. “Big miracles,” Shraga recognized. “It definitely makes you think about the fact that there’s a God looking out for you.”
It took the units three full days to clear Kibbutz Be’eri. Every few minutes, another terrorist would pop out of hiding as if in a video game. They slept in 20-minute rotations, with an hour on guard duty. There was barely any food.
Shraga noted, “These terrorists are all on drugs. Many had tourniquets already on their limbs, ready to treat themselves in order to keep fighting.”
Gaza
Since October 7th, Shraga has been fighting in Gaza, uncovering tunnels. “I was part of an operation where we discovered a tunnel, and we had Special Forces come in and explore...they found bodies of hostages.” Shraga, who was born in Passaic, New Jersey, is happy that his parents made the decision to move to Israel and wouldn’t have it any other way. “Growing up in Israel is an amazing experience. I have no regrets... Going to the army was a time for me to put all my things aside and give back to a bigger cause.”
Reprinted from the current website of aish.com
