❝Story11:30
Growing Up Alert During the Second Intifada
Gelman recounts growing up in Jerusalem amid suicide bombings and learning to scan buses for possible threats as a child. He says repeated exposure to attacks, loss, and constant warnings shaped the mental toughness and vigilance he later carried into military service.
- Daily routines could carry an understood risk of attack
- Gelman remembers scanning buses for threats as a child
- Families immediately contact people near an attack
- The community's response was to remain active rather than surrender normal life
“I remember as a kid looking for terrorists in my own eyes I'm I'm 10 years old I'm 12 years old and I get on…”
“you'll never let it get to you you'll always keep on going you'll always keep your head up high and that's the mentality that we…”
#jerusalem#second intifada#childhood#resilience
❝Story20:30
The Secret Acting Course That Ended a Military Career
Gelman traces his acting ambition to a whispered conversation during a 75-kilometre military hike. Years later, with another seven-year military offer available, he quietly attended acting courses, auditioned for acting school, and told almost nobody until he was accepted.
- He first voiced the dream of acting at age 19 during training
- He waited until his final military year to test the ambition
- His commander allowed him to attend one acting lesson each week
- He says he was initially terrible but loved the work
- He declined another seven-year military deal after entering acting school
“he says to me so uh uh what's your dream like after the Army and we're 19 years old I mean we just started and…”
“I did the acting course which I was terrible at terrible absolutely terrible and I loved it I loved every second of it”
#career change#acting#military#risk
❝Story28:30
The Film Role That Eerily Foreshadowed His Real Injury
Gelman's first film role was an elite commander defending a kibbutz during the 1948 war. In the film, the commander is shot four times on his left side and dies; three years later, Gelman was sent to defend a kibbutz on October 7 and was shot four times but survived.
- His first film concerned the defence of a kibbutz in 1948
- He played an elite commander shot four times on the left side
- His real October 7 mission carried striking parallels
- Gelman describes the overlap as art and life imitating each other
“he gets shot four bullets on his left side the commander which I play and dies on spot it's true story and I played him”
“of me and my team getting sent to kibuts to save the kib from the attack of Kamas and me getting shot for bullets luckily…”
#acting#kibbutz#coincidence#october 7
❝Story55:30
His 30th Birthday Ended With an Order to Report to Base
Gelman's girlfriend gathered his military teammates and childhood friends for a surprise glamping birthday weekend on October 6. After calling it the best day of his life, he woke to news of war and a command to reach base immediately; the team left together for the south.
- His girlfriend organized a surprise gathering for his 30th birthday
- His whole military team was already together when the attack began
- The group had stopped music at 11 p.m. and gone to sleep
- A message from his commander ordered everyone to base
- His journalist girlfriend continued south as he turned toward the base
“on the way to the tent I take my girlfriend I kiss her and I thank her for the best day of my life that's…”
“I check my phone and I have a message from my commander get to the base everyone now I wake up my team we get…”
#october 7#birthday#mobilization#relationships
❝Story59:00
The Drive Down the Blood Highway and the First Rescue Point
Gelman describes his team's drive through burned cars and bodies toward Kfar Aza, where fighting was already underway. Unable to contact the team inside without risking friendly fire, they established a medical point and arranged armored extraction of injured civilians, including a badly burned mother and child.
- The team encountered an armed squad while driving south
- Gelman says the road was lined with burned vehicles and bodies
- They could not enter blindly because of friendly-fire risk
- The team established a medical point outside the kibbutz
- Armored vehicles brought injured civilians out for treatment
“whatever car wasn't on fire just bodies like spilling out of the car and all over the road so that road today is known as…”
“what we did was we opened up like a medical Point outside of the kibuts”
#kfar aza#rescue#medical response#october 7
❝Story1:19:00
Shot and Trapped Under a House for 45 Minutes
Near a reported mass-hostage location, Gelman was shot through his trigger finger and then hit by an AK-47 burst alongside his teammate David. They crawled under a house, guarded both openings, assessed their wounds, and repeatedly lost consciousness while their team fought to reach them.
- Gelman switched trigger fingers after the first shot
- A second attacker hit both Gelman and David
- They took cover beneath the house and guarded two approaches
- A first rescue attempt left three more soldiers wounded
- Both men assessed severe wounds while waiting under fire
- Gelman focused on survival and his girlfriend
“he gets one bullet through my uh trigger finger um which is a little shorter now yeah yeah um so he gets it through my…”
“I was thinking only of two things first one was of surviving that's what was in my head survival and as cliche as it as…”
#survival#injury#beeri#combat
❝Story1:27:00
An Improvised Tank Rescue Saved Gelman and His Arm
A soldier from Gelman's unit entered a tank despite never having operated one, drove into the kibbutz, and helped execute a diversion that allowed the team to retrieve Gelman and David. Gelman's nearly detached arm was tied to his vest; later, his girlfriend moved him from an overloaded hospital to Tel Aviv for immediate surgery, preserving the arm.
- A unit member commandeered a tank without waiting for a green light
- The tank fired beside windows to avoid potential hostages
- The team used the diversion to reach the wounded men
- Gelman's arm was attached mainly by skin and blood vessels
- His girlfriend arranged transfer when the first hospital could not operate in time
“he's never been in a tank in his life before this yeah and as he he went shot he took the team he's like get…”
“then she brought an ambulance and put me on the ambulance Brave decision like last second decision sent me to the hospital in Tel Aviv…”
#rescue#tank#surgery#recovery
❝Story1:31:00
His Journalist Girlfriend Abandoned the News Stand to Save Lives
While Gelman fought nearby, his girlfriend left her field news station, drove through the Nova Festival area, and pulled survivors from bushes under continuing danger. After his call from evacuation, she completed a live broadcast and then went to the hospital, where she pushed for the transfer that saved his arm.
- She entered the festival area in her private car
- She searched bushes and transported survivors to medical points
- Her cameraman followed while the rescue unfolded on live news
- She and Gelman had not spoken throughout the day
- She completed her broadcast before joining him at the hospital
“she was at the Nova Festival saving lives so she went in with her car drove searched for kids like left her news station abandoned…”
“her cameraman is running after her and she's just like pulling people out of the bushes like screaming her name out it's me it's me…”
#nova festival#journalism#civilian rescue#courage