
An MDA staff member was physically assaulted Saturday night at a dispatch center near the Dead Sea.
The incident occurred after a woman reported feeling unwell and requested medical assistance.
A man in his early 40s escorted the woman to an MDA station in the Tamar regional district near the Dead Sea.
While MDA staff members at the station asked the woman a set of questions regarding her condition, the man who had escorted her became agitated and yelled at the MDA representatives. When a female staff member requested that he calm down, the man assaulted her, beating and kicking her before throwing her to the ground.
"I was in the next room and I heard a man yelling, so I ran over quickly – it was a terrible sight,” said MDA paramedic Yarden Madar.
“I found the medic [who had been assaulted] sprawled out on the floor, bruised and disoriented. I pushed the attacker out and locked the door. Police were called to the scene and they arrested the assailant.”
The staff member, Sarah Yisraeli, suffered injuries all over her body and was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva.
MDA officials say Yisraeli sustained two broken bones in her arm during the attack, bruises around her right knee, and has sharp pains in her lower back.
Police took the assailant into custody Saturday night, and on Sunday brought him before a judge to have his arrest extended.
After she was evacuated to the hospital and treated, Yisrael described the attack.
“A couple came to the MDA station – the woman didn’t look so good, so I offered her a seat. The man explained her situation. Since there’s a possibility of dehydration [in this region], we needed to make sure what the patient’s condition was through questioning intended to see how alert she is and whether she is aware of where she is and what time it is, I tried to chat with the woman to understand from her how she felt.”
At that point, Yisraeli explained, the assailant became enraged.
“The man became aggravated and yelled at me, telling me to speak only with him and not to address her [the patient]. After I asked him to stop yelling, he started kicking me and threw me to the floor. I was injured and was in shock.”
“Another paramedic heard the commotion, ran over to me and pushed the attacker away from me. After the man left the room, we quickly locked ourselves in the room with the patient to prevent him from attacking one of us again. I used the MIRS [radio] to call the MDA call center to report: ‘I’m requesting police here immediately – I’m being attacked.’ Within 5 to 10 minutes a police cruiser showed up; the police took the woman's identification and arrested the man.”