ST. LOUIS — Several St. Louis families have soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces who were called to serve shortly after the Hamas attacks.
Every day has been harder than the last for these families and they continue to learn about more family members and friends who have been killed or taken hostage, all while they pray their soldiers make it back home.
Galit Lev-Harir and her husband flew from St. Louis to Israel to visit their son in college and the rest of their family for the holiday weekend only to have their trip take a shocking turn for their nephew Rohn.
“The army contacted him and asked him to go down because they were calling back all of the soldiers who were on leave. And he went down to the area, to the border communities that had been attacked by the terrorists,” Lev-Harir said.
While treating the wounded, Rohn volunteered to help evacuate more injured people when suddenly his Jeep was hit by an anti-tank missile, tearing off his arm and killing the driver.
“They weren't able to evacuate him because they were under very heavy fire. So they had to wait until nightfall. And then a special unit was sent in with night vision goggles and they were able to evacuate him and take him to a place where he could be airlifted and brought to Soroka Hospital,” Lev-Harir said.
As Lev-Harir shared this story with 5 On Your Side’s Laura Barczewski from outside the hospital, she stopped suddenly as an alert went off in the background.
“That’s a missile. I have to run inside right now,” Lev-Harir said as she went back inside the hospital, a fortified building.
This happened twice during the interview, but she says despite the horror of it all there is some good.
She said politically the nation has been very divided, but the second the attacks began, the division fell away.
“Everyone is all together. And it's just really incredible to feel everyone's so united,” Lev-Harir said.
She said the military has been taking good care of the families, providing hotel rooms close to the hospital and the community has been bringing meals daily.
In a town roughly 75 miles away, former St. Louis resident Michael Oberlander says four of his children were all called up to serve in various roles for the Israel Defense Forces.
“It's very hard. We worry about them, obviously. But we're also very proud of them because they're doing their duty,” Oberlander said.
Oberlander said he has been able to talk with his kids while they are away from home.
“We've been able to speak to them from time to time. We need to give them the space to be able to do the things they need to do. Fortunately, with this amazing technology, it's not great when terrorists can livestream their horrendous acts, but it does allow us to be able to communicate. I text in the morning, ‘Good morning, sweetie. I love you.’ And she'll text me back maybe 12 hours later saying, ‘I love you, too, Daddy,” Oberlander said.
Even miles away, he feels the same way Lev-Harir does.
“The Israeli people are very strong. We've been punched and we've been staggered, but we have not fallen down. And we are going to win this,” Oberlander said.
Several groups are collecting funds to help the affected families. If you’d like to help, these two organizations are preferred by St. Louis families in this story: the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and United Hatzalah.