Chilling monologue of a Zaka volunteer. “The mother looked at me and asked – is he alive? Inside my heart I was broken, I knew the truth but she didn’t know how her children were doing. I was strong and did not burst into tears in her face.”
Zaka volunteer Benzi Lizarovich, who arrived and handled the scene of the serious attack on Friday: “I received the information about the attack on the communication network of MDA and Zaka, I was at home in Givat Zeev and immediately got on Zaka’s motorcycle and drove to the scene of the attack. The child was already Unfortunately it was lifeless and all we had to do was cover it with a Zaka bag. The rest of the victims were evacuated from the scene in ambulances, some with CPR.
The body of the little boy was transferred to the ZAKA ambulance at the scene, another ZAKA volunteer Rabbi Israel Wertheimer calls me and asks, is the mother here. A police officer said if anyone recognizes the child in the field, we will immediately release him for burial. Otherwise we will have to take it down to Abu Kabir. This is where Rabbi Israel and I started looking for neighbors and even locating the mother.
A neighbor who lives in the building approached me and gave the names of the children, I asked if the mother was here and he answered me – yes and brought us to her. She was surrounded by neighbors who came to be with her in these difficult moments. We approached her and asked her: Are you the mother? She answers yes. Then carefully we told her that in a few minutes we will call her, the officer and we want to talk to you.
She looks me in the eyes and asks: “Is my son alive? How is he doing?”
I looked at my Bezaka friend Rabbi Yisrael Wertheimer and he looks back at me as a sign of what she is being answered. I answered her: We need prayers, we will know shortly.
In our hearts we knew he was no longer alive. Inside my heart I was broken – I refrained from bursting into tears next to her. Tears flowed from my eyes. Finally, we sent the ZAKA ambulance to Shamgar on the orders of the police to do the identification there, the mother was sent in a special vehicle with a team of medical personnel who will be with her at the difficult moment and receiving the bitter news and a police officer who was already waiting for her at the location for the identification and receiving the news.
The mother responded: “What is there to say? I thank God very much that I received the child for 5 years, I sent a sacrifice to God back.” Zaka commander Benzi Oering and volunteer Moti Fried, who were in Shamgar when they received the good news, burst into tears. All Shabbat, I kept thinking about the mother looking at me and asking: “Is my son alive?”.