EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE: I’m an Israeli medic on the front lines in Gaza and found out someone I treated was a Hamas terrorist who took part in October 7 – this is how I feel about it
- Dr. Roni says her patient, a Hamas terrorist, refused to look her in the eye
- But she carried on treating him, despite the atrocities he committed on Oct. 7
- 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas on Black Saturday
An Israeli frontline medic has told how she treated a Palestinian in Gaza who she later discovered was a terrorist involved in the October 7 atrocity.
Dr. Roni, 31, said the extremist refused to even look at her such was his contempt but despite losing personal friends in the massacre she does not regret helping him.
The mother-of-two who was a civilian surgeon when war broke out spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail from her forward base on the Gaza border.
As artillery fire cracked overhead, she told how she was called by her commander to attend to injured Palestinians inside the territory.
‘During the event, when we treated the people, there was one person that I was sure doesn’t hate me – he kissed my hand while I treated him,’ she said.
Dr. Roni (pictured) was a civilian surgeon when war broke out
Despite losing friends in the atrocity and seeing dozens of victims in her civilian hospital, Dr. Roni does not feel any difficulty in having treated a terrorist
105 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground invasion began in late October
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‘But there was one young guy that I felt that didn’t make eye contact with me. That’s one of the people that I found out later was in Israel on October 7.’
While Dr. Roni immediately suspected he was affiliated with Hamas, she says he is not the only Palestinian she treated who has been later confirmed by intelligence as a terrorist.
Describing why she feels no regret, she explained: ‘I’m just there to do what I know how to do.
‘That’s what I do. I don’t have any conflict because I believe here or in the hospital, as a doctor, my job is to treat people.
‘And it’s a slippery slope if I start to question who do I need to treat and should I not treat.’
The mother who has three-year-old twins, Eden and Ariel, with her 38-year-old husband, Eldad, was a cardiac surgery resident at Shiba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv.
Roni was at a medical conference in Vienna on Black Saturday, and went back to Israel almost immediately
She was called up to join the frontline team and now goes deep into Gaza to save injured Israeli soldiers and treat Palestinians on humanitarian corridors
Now the unassuming medic who says she has to smile so that she doesn’t cry still cannot quite believe the surreal situation she has found herself in since terrorists slaughtered over 1,200 Israelis.
She laughs when asked if she could ever have imagined herself entering Gaza clutching an M16 assault rifle to rescue soldiers under gun and rocket fire from Hamas.
On October 7 she was at a medical conference in Vienna – but as soon as she saw the images coming out of her country she got the first plane back home to help.
‘I think maybe in other countries it’s hard to imagine being a soldier,’ she said, sitting in the Humvee a few hundred feet from Gaza that she must be ready to leap into and race over the border at a moment’s notice.
‘But really, I don’t feel I’m a solider. I am, but it’s not really who I am. I’m a doctor, I’m an Israeli citizen, and I’m here because I have no other choice.
She said of saving both Israelis and Palestinians: ‘I’m just there to do what I know how to do’
‘I don’t have any conflict because I believe here or in the hospital, as a doctor, my job is to treat people,’ she said
‘Because there is a terror organisation that if given the chance would kill me, my daughters; would rape me and my daughters.
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‘I would love to be home now, rather than being here. I would love to be with my girls and with my husband and at my work that I really love.
‘But instead, I am here, because I really feel like we don’t have any other option. If we need to fight for our lives, then I should be part of it.’
After returning from Vienna, Dr. Roni, who cannot give her surname for security reasons, initially treated victims at her hospital from the October 7 massacre.
But days later she was called up to work on the frontline – getting a two-week crash course in military aid including a two-hour session to learn how to fire her weapon.
‘I asked if I could leave the gun at the base,’ she said, grinning. ‘But they said I must have it to protect myself. It is the lightest one they have.’
Dr. Roni must now camp on the Gaza border or stay on bases inside the territory on two week rotations, the only woman in her unit.
‘[Hamas] is a terror organisation that if given the chance would kill me, my daughters; would rape me and my daughters,’ she said
In civilian life, Dr. Roni would cry each time she lost a patient, but despite everything she has seen, including not being able to save one soldier from horrifying injuries, she is still yet to shed a tear
‘Before I went to Vienna I cried because I was going to leave my daughters for five days, it felt so terrible,’ she said. ‘Now I’m going to leave them for two weeks to go into Gaza.
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‘But it doesn’t feel terrible, because I know I’m doing something that I really need to do.’
In civilian life, Dr. Roni would cry each time she lost a patient, but despite everything she has seen, including not being able to save one soldier from horrifying injuries, she is still yet to shed a tear.
‘Here I had a lot of experiences that on a normal day would make me cry – and it didn’t happen yet,’ Dr. Roni said, before smiling sadly and adding: ‘I guess it will come after.’
Israel’s retaliatory assault has so far killed at least 18,205 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry, which says many thousands more dead are uncounted under the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances.
105 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground invasion began in late October.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday at the end of an overnight visit to the Gaza Strip that civilians there were enduring ‘hell on earth’ as Israel’s war against Hamas grinds on.
‘Back in #Gaza, endless deepening tragedy. People are everywhere, live in the street, need everything. They plead for safety & for an end to this hell on earth,’ UNWRA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X, adding his agency was facing ‘an impossible situation’.
Israel’s retaliatory assault has so far killed at least 18,205 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Israel was no exception to US policy that any country receiving U.S. weapons must comply with the laws of war
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday at the end of an overnight visit to the Gaza Strip that civilians there were enduring ‘hell on earth’
Some diplomats predict the coming vote will win more support than the assembly’s October call for ‘an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce’
The 193-member UN General Assembly is likely to pass a draft resolution on Tuesday that mirrors the language of a demand for a ceasefire blocked by a US veto in the 15-member Security Council last week.
While General Assembly resolutions are not binding, they carry political weight on the world stage.
Some diplomats predict the coming vote will win more support than the assembly’s October call for ‘an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce.’
The United States has backed Israel’s position that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas, although it has also called on its ally to do more to limit harm to civilians.
US President Joe Biden told a White House celebration for the Jewish holiday of Hannukah on Monday that his commitment to Israel was ‘unshakeable’.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Israel was no exception to US policy that any country receiving U.S. weapons must comply with the laws of war.
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