When Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th and war broke out, 23-year-old Dvir Fischer was hiking with friends in Nepal. He returned to Israel to help defend his country – until a gunshot wound to the neck left him critically injured. Dvir survived and has since told the story of his personal miracle many times. Among those who heard it was JCSI staff member Dina Röll, who met him at his home in Israel.
As I enter the house, I see two young men sitting in the armchair and on the couch. Nothing unusual, really. And yet, this scene touches me deeply: Dvir's friend and teammate has just arrived from the Gaza Strip. He's allowed to go home for 48 hours. But more important to him than going straight home was visiting his friend, who survived being shot in the neck almost a month ago. And there they sit now, talking to each other.
They quickly draw me into their conversation, asking where I'm from and which client I'm interviewing Dvir for today. I never find it difficult to talk about my life's mission. But this time, sitting before these two young men, who are experiencing trauma at such a young age and risking their lives to defend their country, simply leaves me humbled and speechless. What was I doing at 23? At least I didn't have to go to war for Germany and fight for the survival of my people.
Dvir asks me if I want to hear the long or the short version of his story. The long one, of course! It begins in Nepal, five days' journey from the nearest town, deep in the wilderness at a nature festival. The young Israelis want to clear their heads after completing their mandatory military service. Many then travel to countries like this. Besides, Dvir loves the nature in Nepal.
“One of the best days of my life”
“October 7th was one of the best days of my life,” Dvir tells me, showing me pictures on his new MacBook. He recently received it as a gift from an organization dedicated to helping and bringing joy to injured and traumatized soldiers. He shows me a photo taken at the exact moment the massacre in Israel began, as they later reconstructed: “This guy is Israeli, and so is this guy, and so is this guy; and there’s a Russian, an Argentinian, a Frenchman, another Israeli, and me. The photographer is from Spain. There were so many of us Israelis. We jumped into the river, and in the evening, we Israelis cooked for everyone and then danced until late into the night…”
He recounts how he saw an Israeli woman sitting to the side, thoughtfully smoking a cigarette. When Dvir asked what was wrong, she simply said that a war had started in Israel. "Nothing special," Dvir thought to himself and went back to the others to enjoy the fire show. "And then I immediately forgot about it."
Abrupt end to a vacation
It wasn't until October 8th, the day after the massacres in Israel, that the horrific news from home slowly began to spread. Dvir had to walk for two hours just to reach a place with cell service. He read about 900 dead and saw videos of young girls, presumably raped and dragged from a jeep, and of terrorists driving through Sderot. Suddenly, Dvir knew he would fly home and help defend his country: “900 – that number wouldn't leave my mind. During my compulsory military service, I was in a special unit. I knew exactly where I was going back to and that I would be fighting in a war.”
The journey to the nearest airport took five days. A little time to process the terrible news, the rising death toll, and the stories of his acquaintances and friends who had hidden from the terrorists for hours at the festival. A friend of Dvir's was murdered at that party. "I knew I had to go back to fight for my country. My grandparents on both sides come from families that lost many relatives in the Holocaust. I had to go back, as a Jew, as a fighter, because my own friends had died—for all these reasons."
Finally, Dvir arrived in Thailand. The Israeli government had arranged flights there to bring the many Israelis and reservists back to their country. "He wasn't even home for twelve hours," says his mother, who enters the room where we are conducting our interview at that moment. Barely back in Israel, Dvir had to report to his unit. There, he found an interesting way to cope with the new reality: He started giving his team yoga lessons – just as he had recently learned in India and Nepal.
The moment the bullet hits
His unit was deployed to Gaza on October 31st. Dvir recounts the moment he was hit. “We had been engaged in combat for several days and were on a special mission. We had to cross a street for it. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my body and everything went black. I fell to the ground and for a moment saw myself lying there from above.” The friend who had just been sitting with them fired back at the terrorists who had wounded Dvir.
Dvir was pulled into a house by his team and treated there by the second medic. “I remember the pain and thinking: Damn, I've been hit, now I'm out of the game. And I remember wanting to help the medic somehow and trying to calm myself down, moving my legs and arms. Just like I'd been trained to do as a medic.” He was briefly close to unconscious but immediately fully alert again when he was taken out of the Gaza Strip in a heavy-duty SUV. From there, he was transported by helicopter to Soroka Hospital.
It wasn't until the next day that Dvir realized what a miracle had occurred: apart from a small piece of bone, nothing was injured. No lasting damage. Dvir shows me the wound images and X-rays. "My chances of survival were one in a million. The bullet shouldn't have gone straight through, otherwise it definitely would have injured something important. Ballistically speaking, it's completely impossible that the bullet could have taken a detour to avoid damaging the vital areas—but that's exactly what happened. I felt very protected, even the night before the incident in the Gaza Strip. There was no electricity there, so the starry sky was very clear, and I saw four shooting stars and had this reassuring feeling that I was safe."
“Someone was looking out for me.”
Dvir says there are many terms for what happened to him: a miracle, luck, fate… in any case, someone was watching over him. “I believe in a higher power. But you shouldn’t anthropomorphize it, because then you limit its power,” Dvir says. Does he have any plans for when he’s feeling better? He smiles: “First, I have to get healthy. That will take another two months. I keep feeling nerve pain and have to continue taking painkillers. Until then, I’m resting.”
He has since deleted Twitter; the news from around the world, the propaganda and lies against Israel, are driving him crazy. He has seen too much with his own eyes, including shots fired at the Israeli army from UNRWA buildings, humanitarian facilities, and even between residential buildings. Dvir is convinced: “We must defend ourselves and show Gaza and the world that we are strong. Nevertheless, we are not a people who want to kill others. We want to live in peace. But if someone comes to kill us, we will eliminate them first!”
Dvir wants his story to be told. Amidst all the terrible news, it can be a light for people. Once his injuries have fully healed, he wants to return to India and Nepal and close this chapter.
