“We heard a loud boom. … The first missile hit [Roi] Peles, a direct hit that killed him on the spot. … The second missile hit the building itself, injuring 12 soldiers. … It was the worst night of my life … each one of us is still stuck there, in Beit Hanoun.”
Those are the words of Tomer Toledo, Or Levi and Yonatan Herblin, recorded on camera. In the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, they had been soldiers in Nahal Orev, a company of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). All of them were wounded in battle.
Some four years after the battle in which their comrade Lt. Peles was killed by a direct hit of a Kornet missile, several of Peles’ friends in the company have made a video in which they tell their story and ask for financial assistance toward their psychological rehabilitation. The warriors have come to realize that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Due to a lack of assistance from the Defense Ministry, they decided to turn to the public for help, despite the embarrassment that frequently surrounds being a trauma victim. So far, they have received about 92,000 shekels ($25,000), half of their target.
The soldier acted on the initiative of Capt. (Res.) Omri Ganem, a former company commander who hails from the Druze village of Sajur, in northern Israel. Ganem, who retired from the IDF about six months ago, is voluntarily assisting his former soldiers. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Ganem expressed his personal feelings as well as touching on the suffering and difficulties of his former soldiers.
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