Muslim doctor taken hostage, used as human shield by Hamas
A Muslim doctor who normally comes to the rescue of others needed to be rescued himself when he was shot and held hostage by Hamas terrorists disguised as Israel Defense Forces soldiers and used as a human shield.
When Hamas launched its terror campaign on Israel Saturday morning, Dr. Tarek Abu Arar, 33, became instantly ensnared in the surprise attack en route to his shift in the ER at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, a coastal city near the Gaza border.
As the United Hatzalah volunteer physician approached a junction near Sderot, he encountered someone who appeared injured on the side of the road next to a 4×4 vehicle.
“At that moment, there had been no reports of any infiltration,” recounted Abu Arar, who heard the country’s “red alert” siren some 20 minutes earlier — prompting him to make what would be a life-saving decision.
“Thankfully … I had decided to wear my bulletproof vest,” he said, adding that he assessed the situation to be a routine car accident and decided to help.
That’s when the doctor, who was one of four United Hatzalah volunteers injured in Saturday’s conflict, learned he’d been duped.
Someone dressed in an IDF uniform about 160 feet away began “gesturing” for Abu Arar to help, he said, according to an email from the medical services organization. When he was about 30 feet away, “he suddenly shot me in the chest. I started shouting and praying, convinced that I was about to die,” he said.
“I thought he was a soldier who had mistaken me for a terrorist.”
He heard a man say, “Stop, stop, he is an Arab” in Arabic. “This is when I understood they were Hamas terrorists.”
It was then that Abu Arar counted some 10 additional men in military attire spring from the bushes and descended on him, interrogating him in Arabic.
“They asked me questions to check my knowledge of Islam. They had Kalashnikovs and very advanced military equipment and were wearing green uniforms that looked similar to IDF uniforms,” said the doctor, who specializes in internal medicine.
“They attached me to a pole in the center of the junction and said, ‘That’s it — we have a hostage. The IDF cannot eliminate us from the air anymore’ and began shooting at every car that passed by the junction, making sure to kill every occupant of the cars,” said Abu Arar, who was forced to watch the carnage for two hours.
Worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
Over 1,200 Israelis are dead, more than 3,000 are wounded and at least 100 were taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking female hostages and parading them down the street in horrifying videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report at least 1,050 Palestinians have been killed more than 5,000 injured.
“It was horrific … The army arrived at the scene and there was a shootout between the terrorists and the soldiers, with me in the middle.”
A Hamas terrorist shot Abu Arar in the leg “from point blank” range “and signaled with his hand that the next bullet would be in my head,” he added.
“I started bleeding pretty massively. During this whole time, I was praying for a miracle. I was convinced that I was about to die.”
About 45 minutes after IDF forces retreated, a Yamam commando force — Israel’s National Counter Terror Unit — arrived, “eliminating” every terrorist and rescuing Abu Arar. They applied a tourniquet to his leg before he was transported to Soroka Hospital, where he was treated and later released.
“This was the worst experience of my life,” said the doctor, who’s recuperating at home in Arara BaNegev and thinking about a fellow Muslim United Hatzalah volunteer, who was injured and kidnapped by Hamas while he was providing medical coverage at the music festival where 260 revelers were killed Saturday.
“I have dedicated my life to helping others and saving lives, both in my profession as a doctor and my volunteering with United Hatzalah,” Abu Arar said.
“To be forced to witness the horrible slaughter carried out in front of my eyes was terrible. I have no words to describe it. Just terrible.”
Maor Shalom, another United Hatzalah volunteer, was killed trying to save lives after he was called up as part of Israel’s security forces.
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