Chetrit & Tsafrir

Mia Chetrit & Tom Tsafrir

  I, Tom am in reserve duty as a captain- platoon tank commander in shiryon (armor corps IDF). Me and my unit were recruited on October 7th, at first we were destined to fight in the north, but after the cease fire was revoked we were immediately sent to gaza - specifically han yunes. My troop was the first to cross the border to han yunes, we started the attack, we had a very complicated mission which required us to move fast. After about two weeks a different troop of soldiers was attacked near us and they had to evacuate an injured soldier from their tanks, so i took my unit and went there to help and get the soldier to the border so he could get medical care. On our way there my tank was hit by an anti-tank missile, it got through and there was a big explosion inside the tank. One of my soldiers got mortally injured, he thankfully made it and is getting better but sadly lost his leg. My other soldier died on the spot (god bless his memory). At that point I didn't realize that I was also injured and had to rescue them from inside the tank and get to safety. Then we were evacuated by helicopter to soroka hospital in beer sheva. I have a lot shrapnel in my legs and feet, my sight, hearing and lungs were injured as well, right now I'm using a wheelchair but I'm expected to almost full recovery which I'm very grateful for.

  We got engaged right before October 7th, Tom was called to duty on that Saturday so we didn't got the chance to think about our wedding. Now baruch hashem he's recovering, getting better and safe so we decided not to wait and make the wedding happen as soon as we can.