Since the war in Southern Israel began, Rambam has been receiving wounded people – some soldiers and some civilians. One civilian, a security guard, shares his story of survival.
Arthur Kenich. Photography: Rambam HCC.
Arthur Kenich, 58 years old and a resident of Kiryat Bialik (near Haifa), found himself in one of the first targets of the terrorists, because of his work. Kenich, a security guard had been looking for work. Hence, when one of his friends asked him to go south for a few days to be a guard at a nature party, he didn’t think twice about saying yes. The party, a weekend-long outdoor music festival, was one of the first targets of Hamas terrorists.
“Suddenly, rockets started flying overhead,” recalls Kenitch, “I have never seen anything like it. We tried to get the participants to leave, but they preferred to celebrate. A short time later, guns began firing from all sides. We started running. I injured my leg. Suddenly we saw a tank and the soldiers there bandaged my leg. Together we all kept moving the whole time, with the soldiers. Then we saw more soldiers and policemen who took us out of there. We were there for many hours. I still can’t believe what I saw. They didn’t stop shooting,” he says, and thanks everyone who was there and rescued him from hell. Kenich, who injured his leg, was treated in Soroka Hospital and then transferred to Rambam.
Tuesday morning (October 9), Kenich met Knesset Member Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid party), who came to visit Rambam. Ben Barak toured the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital, which is currently having its lower levels (-2 and -3) prepared should hostilities break out in the north. Later, Ben Barak visited a number of injured people hospitalized in various hospital departments.
A man who has seen death before his eyes, Kenich has a clear message for the decision-makers and the people of Israel: “Now we have to respond decisively to ensure that nothing like this happens again. Friends – we are strong and we will win. We must be united and stick together. That’s the only way we will win.”