Three Years, One Unit: The October 7 War Through a Combat Medic’s Eyes

On October 7, 2023, at 6:29 a.m., sirens shattered a quiet morning. I assumed it was another routine rocket attack. Within minutes, the reports made clear it was anything but.

I still can’t believe three years have passed since the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. It was a day that changed everything, and it is etched into me like a scar. If you had told me on October 6 that hundreds of innocent Jews would be murdered and kidnapped, brutalized and raped, and that vast swathes of the world would then side with the terrorists who carried out these genocidal atrocities against Israelis, and others, I would never have believed you. Yet here we are.

But there is one difference between 1939 and now. The Jewish people have a homeland and the ability to defend themselves, as we saw recently on Flydubai flight FZ1073. Jewish blood is not cheap. Jewish lives are not expendable. No matter how dark these three years have been, we are still here, still standing, and still strong.

Fighting My Way Back In

I had been out of uniform for seventeen years. I had aged out of reserve duty, and nobody had called me. But I had been a combat medic in Givati, I had kept volunteering ever since, and my work as a tour guide had kept me fit. On October 8, I took my old uniform out of the closet. It still fit! I had to fight back. As Erin Molan noted,

At a time when the battle between good and evil has never mattered more and lies have become the acceptable norm – some stand tall and fight back.

Getting the army to take me back is a story that is funny in its sheer Israeli-ness: persistence, improvisation, and a refusal to accept the word “no.” It is also humbling. I was one of thousands of Israelis and Jews worldwide, too old to be activated, who burned to help and felt helpless watching from the sidelines. I fought to fight. Many others gave up far more than I did to do the same.

Three years later, I am still in the same unit.

The Medical Cavalry

I serve in a PALMAR, a combat medical extraction unit. Forget the MASH tents of television. We are the medical cavalry. We move with the troops and work alongside the Air Force’s elite Search and Rescue Unit 669. When a soldier is hit, we are already coming. As Colonel Richard Kemp wrote,

Through innovative technology and a highly trained medical staff, the Palmar unit sets a standard of excellence in military medical care, embodying heroism and selflessness in their mission to save lives and provide healing support.

Since the war began, PALMAR units have carried out more than 3000 evacuations, over 400 of them by helicopter. A few made headlines, like the rescue of singer and actor Idan Amedi. But most never did. I think of the badly burned soldier who whispered, in the middle of his agony, that he hoped to be a father one day. He is now on the long road of rehabilitation. I think of the countless others whose names you will never hear, and whose faces I will never forget.

Start-Up Nation on the Battlefield

Israel is the “Start-Up Nation,” and that extends to the battlefield. We have cracked the “Golden Hour,” the time it takes to get a wounded soldier to a hospital. Our teams carry real blood into the field, with embedded physicians, surgeons, haematologists, and portable ultrasound. Digital systems record every step of treatment and update helicopter crews and hospital staff in real time, so the operating room already knows the injuries by the time a casualty arrives. The handoff is seamless, and it saves lives.  Our commander, Lt. Colonel D,  summed it up:

When the troops see us coming, they know they can return to the fight, because the door to the hospital has just been opened.

Under Fire, Together

Every unit includes combat soldiers alongside medics, paramedics, and doctors, which makes evacuation under fire possible. And I must mention the women of the IDF. When I first enlisted, units were not integrated as they are today. Now they are, and their impact has been crucial, not just in this war but in how the IDF fights. To understand the modern army, you must understand that.

The Opposite of the “Helpless Jew”

There is an old narrative of the helpless Jew. This war has shown the opposite: a nation strong, resilient, and undeterred, able to confront its most vicious enemies despite, not because of, October 7.

What moves me most is who stands beside me. Religious and secular, left and right, immigrants and sabras, Jewish and non-Jewish. Someone is bleeding, a helicopter is inbound, and nobody asks how you vote. A society that had grown bitterly divided came together, and in our units it has stayed together. That is Zionism at its core: we have no other land, and we are responsible for one another.

Three Years On

I have spent over two years on the Gaza front and just under one year on the Lebanon front. It has been exhausting, and it has been the privilege of my life. Every evacuation compresses the whole story into minutes: the speed, the skill, the technology, and above all the people.

The hardest part is often the gap between the army and the outside world. In moments of respite, the noise of the world trickles in, and the contrast with the unity inside our ranks is jarring. Our mission in the IDF is simple: to be guardians of the Jewish future in our land. I wish more people could see what that looks like up close.

That is why I wrote “Heroes of Palmar: How One IDF Unit Revolutionized Combat Medicine in Gaza”, published this year, 2026. It tells the stories of hope, unity, and Zionism that deserve to be told.  As Ambassador Michael Oren (Major, IDF reserves) wrote,

For all those who love Israel and care about those who gave so much defending it, this work is an important account of one IDF unit’s vital contribution to the war effort in Gaza.  It is a powerful source of inspiration.

Idan Amedi, one of the many soldiers my unit saved, stood on stage at his comeback concert after eighteen months of rehabilitation and said:

Tuvia, to you and all the dear people of the IDF rescue units, thanks to whom I can stand on this stage, we love you!

The feeling is mutual. After three years, we still carry them to safety, and they carry the future of our nation and our people. Am Yisrael Chai!

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Dr. Tuvia Book currently serving on IDF reserve duty.  He is the author of  Heroes of Palmar: How one IDF Unit Revolutionized Combat Medicine in Gaza.  It is published by Gefen Publishing House and is available either from gefen.com or Amazon.com.  He also authored  “For the Sake of Zion, A Curriculum of Israel Education” and “Jewish Journeys” books on both the First Temple and Second Temple periods (Koren).  In addition, Tuvia is a much sought after public speaker and is a Ministry of Tourism licensed Tour Guide, Jewish educator and a Judaica artist. www.booktuvia.com.