Where did the war find you?
I was an officer on duty at the Sderot police station. At half past six, I arrived at the station to change shifts. There was still a night shift patrol team, an urban police team, and the head of the morning shift. Two more policemen came with me as reinforcements, and a policewoman from the night shift. At that moment, shooting started and the red alerts did not stop.
What did you do?
The night shift stayed with me. We waited for a lull in the gunfire, which didn't happen. After a few minutes, there was a small lull, so I sent a police officer from the city unit and an inspector to check out a rocket that had hit one of the streets in Sderot. We were organizing to start the shift when we received a phone call from the IDF that there was an incursion of four of five boats toward Zikim Beach. I asked the officer on duty at the Ashkelon station If they received notification of an incursion, and he said no and promised to check with the district. Even there, they were not aware of the incident. We activated the command that closes all the roads leading to the district, the entrance area to Sderot, and the entrance to Yad Mordechai. A Border Police team eliminated three pairs of terrorists on motorcycles who were planning to continue to Ashdod, Ashkelon, and farther north.
I tried to contact my team, but they didn’t answer due to communication problems. I went out to the police car to get my vest, and an investigation officer from the station arrived. We heard gunshots, and we looked at each other and asked what it was. He entered the station, and the other unit told me they were on their way to the rocket. I looked behind me and saw a van with five or six Hamas terrorists wearing white bandannas on their heads and carrying long-range weapons. I didn't digest it. I told myself that this Shabbat/holiday should not be an episode of Fauda. Then the penny dropped, and I realized that the report of terrorists entering had reached us. I ran into the station and shouted, ‘Terrorists! Go to your defensive positions.’ As we ran to the corridor, they fired an RPG.
I thought to go to the left to the parking lot, but I changed my mind. I was lucky because within a few minutes, they fired an RPG there. We continued to the roof of the station with six female police officers and a civilian. We took a control position, and there were already two terrorists there. I and Ram, my police partner who was on loan to the district, fired and killed both of them.
I took a gun from one of the terrorists and threw it to one of the policemen because each of us had one gun. We returned to our positions. I reported to the radio and asked for help. In the process, three more terrorists came up to the roof and shot at us, wounding Aviv in the leg and stomach. Mor, the policewoman who was with me, took off her shirt and performed a type of arterial block on her leg, returning to her position with policeman Yaron Dayan. The shooting on the roof hit the solar panels, and the roof was filled with water. Suddenly my policemen yelled that there was a grenade. I saw a black grenade between my legs that started to smoke. I grabbed it and threw it back to the stairwell where the terrorists were and killed two. We were in a kind of euphoria that we managed to kill them, but we didn't know that we were just at the beginning of it all.
We went back to our positions. I checked that everyone was okay. Again we called and asked for assistance. I asked them to tell my son, Erez, that I love him. Soon three to four more terrorists came up, throwing grenades at us. We were lucky that there were puddles of water, as three exploded and only the blast and shrapnel hit us. We killed the terrorists on the roof, and then I got a signal that there were terrorists on the staircase. I saw two, and a shootout ensued. I eliminated both of them, but they shot me in the palm. My gun was empty. I found myself lying in a puddle of water, bleeding and semi-conscious. My radio and cellphone didn't work, they just made noises. Another officer was wounded. We reported the wounded on the roof. They said the IDF was on their way, but they encountered gunfire from inside the station. The terrorists captured the station, and the army tried to enter the station to save us. I heard a burst of gunshots from the terrorist who went up to the roof. They killed Yaron and Mor. I was bleeding, with shrapnel, and shivering with cold.
How were you saved?
Yamam, the IDF counter-terrorism unit, got a fire engine and came to the roof. I didn't know if they were ours or not, but I took a chance and raised my bloody hand, and they shouted, ‘She’s alive! She’s alive!’ They managed to get us off the roof under fire. They took me and Aviv down with the crane and put us on stretchers. They told me not to look around me because there were terrible sights: bullet-ridden vehicles, burnt vehicles, young and old people dead on the road. One of the policemen hugged me and didn't stop crying. I asked why he was crying. They thought I was dead. Only then did I realize what we had been through.
How many were killed from the station?
Eight officers who were with me at the station on the roof. Officers who left their homes in the morning, ran to the station, and didn’t know that it was a death trap. No one expected such a large number of terrorists.
After 40 hours of fighting, the district commander decided to destroy the station on the terrorists who were in it and not leave anyone alive. Within five days, a new station was established. The entire police force was in favor of that decision.
What were your wounds?
A broken finger, a torn tendon, shrapnel in my hand up to the shoulder. I had shrapnel in my ear that was removed. I have holes in my eardrums of both ears, and shrapnel in my head that I will have to learn to live with. I can sneak things in because I don’t go through metal detectors. I went back to work the next day. They said I was crazy. But I said, ‘How can I wash dishes, cook, hang laundry? I need to answer the radio and walkie-talkie. We are at war.’
Tell me about your tattoo.
I made a blue lotus tattoo with the words ‘Thanks to the spirit,’ and it below the date October 7. The lotus has several colors. The blue color means the spirit defeats wisdom. The terrorists thought they were smart to come and take over the station and go on a rampage of murder and massacre. They met the fighting spirit of my police officers.
This article is taken from The Jerusalem Post, 'Women - Heroines of Swords of Iron' Magazine 2024. To read the entire magazine, click here.