“The scene in front of me looked like something out of a horror movie. Destruction, smoke, fire, and people screaming. The first thing I saw was a child lying on the ground in severe pain. He had a serious leg injury and had lost a lot of blood. I provided lifesaving treatment…
“While I was treating him, another siren sounded. You feel responsible not only for your own life, but also for the lives of the injured at the scene. The results of the previous strike are right in front of you, and your heart goes out to those who were injured just minutes earlier and have nowhere to take cover.”
Tarifi continued treating others and then assisted EMT Yakir Talkerj with evacuating victims to a hospital.
“Of course, you think about your family who stayed at home, but the responsibility on your shoulders requires you to stay 100% focused.”
When things had settled, Tarifi was headed back to pick up his car when they got a call about another strike in nearby Arad.
“I’m with you,” Tarifi told Yakir, and then they turned the ambulance around and sped toward the next scene.
“When we arrived, we saw unimaginable destruction — buildings that had been completely destroyed and others that were damaged. We joined the many MAGEN DAVID ADOM teams already operating at the scene and began rescuing and treating casualties.”
When Tarifi finally got back to his family early the next morning, he learned that a missile had exploded 50 meters from their home, damaging both his house and the hotel where he works.
“…I feel that I had a great privilege to save lives and help people at such a sensitive and critical moment, and also to comfort them and simply be there as a human being. It’s not easy, this is a complex time, no doubt, especially when my home and workplace were damaged. But property can be repaired, we fight for lives.”
MAGEN DAVID ADOM is Israel’s emergency services system, providing critical medical care and ambulance services for victims of terror, natural disasters, automobile accidents, and all other emergencies in Israel. It is also responsible for Israel’s national blood supply.
And about 90% of MAGEN DAVID ADOM’s paramedics, EMTs, and first responders are volunteers, and individual donors provide the majority of the medical supplies they use every day.
Right now, they urgently need lifesaving trauma kits, blood processing equipment, portable defibrillators, bulletproof vests and helmets, and much more.
Please pray for safety and protection, and please give generously so brave men and women like Tarifi can respond to every emergency, attack, and disaster in Israel, day or night.
Even in the midst relentless crisis, these heroes keep going, even risking their own safety to rescue others. They fight to save every life possible.
Stand with them today. Give to save lives in Israel.
