Israeli reservists called up on Oct.7 and wounded in battle face long road to recovery

Record ID: 1846220

  • Title: Israeli reservists called up on Oct.7 and wounded in battle face long road to recovery
  • Date: 6th October 2024
  • Summary: RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 23, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) 34-YEAR-OLD WOUNDED ISRAELI ARMY RESERVIST AND FATHER OF FOUR, YOSI SOCHR, SAYING: "When you're in a combat zone, without (phone) reception, without being able to be in touch, without knowing what’s going on outside, it's hard. It’s hard because I’m not a 20-year-old kid. I have a whole world around me,
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2024 11:16
  • Keywords: gaza hamas attack hezbollah israeli army lebanon october 7 reservists soldiers
  • Location: RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL / SOUTHERN ISRAEL / GIVEN AS NORTHERN ISRAEL
  • City: RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL / SOUTHERN ISRAEL / GIVEN AS NORTHERN ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Middle East
  • Reuters ID: LVA004639224092024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: On October 7, marketing manager Aaron Bours was in Las Vegas on a work trip.
    When he saw videos of white pickup trucks with Palestinian gunmen brandishing automatic weapons driving through southern Israeli towns, he immediately got a message from his officer in the Israeli army reserves asking him to report for duty.
    Ten months after he was shot by a sniper in Gaza, Bours is now going through intense rehabilitation at Sheba Medical centre near Tel Aviv, where doctors were able to save his leg.
    He is now walking on crutches and hoping to make a full recovery from the wound he sustained while trying to rescue his officer in an ambush.
    In an interview to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attack the subsequent war, Bours told Reuters his rehabilitation has proved a challenge - but so has having to witness the scenes he saw in Gaza.
    For Bours, reporting for duty wasn’t a matter of choice - it was a mandatory obligation.
    He is just one of about 360,000 Israeli reservists who were called up in the wake of the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7 that triggered Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
    Most of those mobilised were already in Israel at the time of the call-up.
    But many were out of the country, for various reasons, and had to drop everything to rush back.
    Military service is compulsory for almost all Israelis when they turn 18.
    Men have to serve 32 months and women 24 months.
    After this, most of them can be called up to reserve units until the age of 40, or even older, in case of national emergency.
    In times of war, they fight alongside the regular troops.
    In the year since October 7, the military has faced challenges on several fronts - on its borders, and from the air.
    Countering rocket fire from Lebanon, missiles from Iran and explosive drones from Yemen as well as holding an offensive in Gaza and ground invasion into southern Lebanon has stretched the military, which heavily depends on its reserve forces.
    The silent toll of the war on the military’s personnel can be felt in various hospitals in Israel, which expanded their services to treat the influx of wounded patients from the war.
    As of September, more than 10,000 wounded soldiers have been treated by the Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense since October 7.
    Just over a third are dealing with limb injuries, with the rest dealing with a variety of internal and spinal injuries, as well as eye, ear and head wounds that underscore the intense combat in the ruins of Gaza.
    More than two thirds of those treated have been reservists.
    But the impact of serious injuries on reservists, who will return to their families and jobs when the fighting is over, will be felt for many years.
    Yosi Sochr, 34, was at home on October 7 when his officer called him to go to northern Israel, fearing Hezbollah would attack from Lebanon.
    He left his wife and four sons, the youngest being just over a month old.
    Sochr was severely wounded when an explosive device was detonated remotely.
    Doctors are still not sure if he will ever regain full use of his left arm and shoulder.
    He told Reuters his time away from home and his injury have affected his whole family.
    Haim Gal Otachi, 37, now relies on a wheelchair after three months in rehabilitation.
    With both physical and psychological injuries, he is facing a radical change to the life he had before the war.
    A software engineer and father of three, Oatchi was injured in Gaza, and lost all feeling in one of his legs, which could take years to recover, if it ever comes back.
    Despite the hardships of rehabilitation and leaving family at home, he said he would do it all again, even if he knew all of the consequences.
    "We are fighting for our home," Otachi said.
    (Production: Stamos Prousalis, Avivit Delgoshen)
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