Former Israeli Defense Chief Major Sagi Dovev spent 20 years training young soldiers in the Israeli army before retiring two years ago to start his own organization. But when he woke up on the morning of October 7, 2023, he knew that everything had changed.
“Sirens were everywhere. I knew exactly what was happening because I was in several WhatsApp groups for professional protection,” Dovev told Fox News Digital. As he saw the brutality broadcast live on social media by Hamas terrorists that day, he knew the war had begun.
On his way to the area, his friends started calling him and told him that his soldiers were injured and sent to Sheba Medical Center. Dovev said he immediately turned around and headed for the hospital where he saw helicopters dropping dozens of wounded soldiers “every few minutes.”
He ended up staying in one of his soldiers that day as he was rushed to the hospital to have his leg amputated. But Dovev realized that he could not leave these soldiers.
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Pictures are shown on the walls of a bomb shelter, where, six months ago, people fled before being killed during the October 7 Israeli attack by Gaza terrorists, near Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, April 7, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
“When I was called to go back to the center to train, I said, I can’t leave the soldiers here at the hospital. I have to stay here to train them here,” he recalled. “And that’s what I’ve been doing since October 7.”
Dovev, a close combat fitness trainer who served as a special combat trainer in the IDF, has spent more than a year volunteering around the clock at Sheba Hospital, helping wounded soldiers regain strength and a sense of purpose after being injured. in the ongoing war in Gaza.
“It was more than a job,” he explained.
Dovev shares inspiring videos on his social media accounts showing the incredible journey these young men and women have gone through to recover not only their physical strength, but their mental strength, from dealing with serious injuries from war.
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Former IDF special forces chief Sagi Dovev shared inspirational videos on his social media accounts about training and rehabilitating wounded soldiers in the IDF. (Sagi Dovev/Instagram)
He shares stories like that of Elisha Medan, who had both legs broken in an explosion that killed four of his colleagues and seriously injured four others.
“But his spirit is high and strong and strong. He wants us to stay united (inside and outside of Israel) and fight for the future of Israel together. I really hope that we will see him one day soon, leading this country.” Dovev wrote alongside a video of Medan and Dovev’s training.
Stories like Dor Almog, a young soldier who was the only survivor after 21 of his comrades died during a terrorist attack. Dovev shared how Almog went from being on a ventilator after the attack last January to learning to retrain in Krav Maga that summer.
Or stories like that of Gaya Zubery, the first female soldier to be seriously injured in Gaza.
“Just a month and a half after completing his training, Gaya was seriously injured while rescuing soldiers from a tank hit by an RPG in Saja’iyya. Gaya was injured in both legs and was airlifted in critical condition,” he wrote on social media. press release.
“During five months of rehabilitation, Gaya underwent several surgeries but maintained her fighting spirit. Her determination and resilience are truly inspiring. Gaya never wanted to be a hero; she just wanted to save lives. Even after her injury, she says she will do it all again,” said Dovev.
“I started to teach them how to fight again. How to walk again, to fight without a leg. How to hit without a leg. How to control their body to learn their new body. And that was a big thing,” explained Dovev. on Fox News Digital.
“This is what made them feel like heroes again. Because one day they are elite fighters or high-level runners, and the next day they need someone to help them take a shower or help them go to the toilet. They have to learn their new body, how to be strong again,” he said. he.
Sometimes that means sitting by the bedside of these soldiers and offering words of encouragement while they are unconscious.
“We’re starting to build it from the ground up, from the lowest point,” Dovev said, noting that an individual’s rehabilitation journey can take several months to a year.
The proud Israeli feels his calling is to help these soldiers feel strong and share their stories with the world, as anti-Israel sentiment has spread worldwide since the October 7 attacks.
The war between Israel and Hamas remains a divisive issue in the US, especially on college campuses, where protests took over several top universities last spring.
Pro-Palestinian protesters marched from Columbia University down to Hunter College.
Dovev, who has seen the war’s costs firsthand, has been outspoken in his criticism of students participating in anti-Israel protests.
“Ignorance is no excuse,” Dovev said. If there was another target group, no one would say, ‘no big deal.’ But, this is a big deal. “
“They don’t know the situation,” he said of his communication with the students in the camps. “They can’t even tell where the river or the sea is”, referring to an anti-Semitic slogan often chanted at protests.
Dovev sees the fight against Hamas as a fight to preserve not only his own people but also the freedom of the entire western world.
These are American hostages taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 and held in Gaza. Only Hersh Goldberg-Polin (Left) was returned to Israel after the IDF found him and other hostages killed by terrorists. Pictured next to Hersh are Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai and Keith Siegel. (Fox News Photo)
“This is the only Jewish country and this is what we are fighting for and this is what we are dying for. This country, of democracy, of the Jewish people, the country of the West.”
“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said, inviting critics of Israel to visit Tel Aviv and see the difference. “But if they get to Gaza, they’ll be thrown off the roof in five minutes if they’re LGBTQ.”
Dovev warned Americans, “You don’t want this radicalism to come to the United States. It has already started. Look at Canada. Look at Europe. We must stop the spread of Hamas and Hezbollah and ISIS.”
Israel and Hamas once again appeared to be committed to an end to the war that could end the 15-month war in Gaza and bring home scores of Israeli hostages there, the Associated Press reported earlier this week.
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Both Israel and Hamas are under pressure from outgoing President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to reach an agreement before the Jan. 20. But the parties have been close in the past, until the negotiations broke down due to various differences.
Last week, Trump was asked about the threats he first reported in early December to the terrorist organization Hamas, which continued to hold dozens of hostages, seven of them Americans, in Gaza.
Israel says about a third about a hundred of the remaining captives diedbut it is believed that about half are dead, the Associated Press reports.
Trump told reporters that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released by the time he takes office.
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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