Major A. the deputy commander of the 123rd Squadron, who was critically injured in the helicopter crash in Rafah on Tuesday night, was trapped in the helicopter's cockpit for several minutes before she was rescued.
A. was teetering between life and death and the soldiers had to saw off the cockpit doors to rescue her and the other injured soldiers.
The soldiers at the scene thought at first that three were killed due to the nature of Major A.'s injuries. She was evacuated and taken to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, where medical teams are fighting for her life.
Two servicemen were killed in the crash: Chief Master Sergeant (res.) Daniel Alloush, aged 37, from Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Chief Master Sergeant (res.) Tom Ish-Shalom, aged 38, from Nes Harim, both fought in the Special Tactics Rescue Unit 669 and fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.
Ish-Shalom is survived by his wife, Carmit, and three children: Yotam (13) and twins Maya and Gaya (11). Alloush is survived by his wife Kimmy and two children Niko and Tommy.
During the incident, a pilot, a reservist pilot, a flight mechanic in the 123rd Squadron, a reservist medic, and a reservist soldier in the Special Tactics Rescue Unit 669 were severely injured. In addition, a reservist combat medic in the Special Tactics Rescue Unit 669 and a reservist flight mechanic in the 123rd Squadron were moderately injured.
Furthermore, a soldier in the 710th Combat Engineering Battalion, Combat Engineering Corps, was severely injured by Hamas sniper fire and was supposed to be evacuated by the helicopter that crashed. The injured soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment. Their families have been notified. The hospital updated that the wounded service members underwent and are expected to undergo complex surgery by the surgical teams and there is no immediate threat to their lives.
The son of one of the soldiers injured in the IDF helicopter crash in Rafah, a mechanic, said that his father heard the pilots saying that the crash was going to happen.
"He said that he heard the pilots say that it was going to happen, that it was difficult to land, so they made a turn to land again. Then it crashed. It all happened within seconds," the son told Kan Reshet Bet.