On Wednesday afternoon, a woman was injured when a rock was hurled at her car near the settlement of Revava in Judea and Samaria. The massive stone smashed the vehicle’s windshield and struck her arm, while her son and two hitchhikers in the car were unscathed. The 36-year-old woman drove to safety and called emergency services from the gate of the settlement a few hundred meters away.

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The car’s windshield following the rock-throwing incident

Tidhar Hoze, a United Hatzalah volunteer, arrived first at the scene where he found the woman with cuts on her hand and shoulder. Her arm was also very swollen as a result of the rock’s strong impact and her 8-year-old son, who was unharmed physically, was in a state of shock, screaming and crying.

Residents in Judea and Samaria have reported a significant surge in such incidents in the past few months. “On the same day, there were three other rock-throwing attacks on that road,” Tidhar said after the incident. “This situation increases our sense of mission when responding to emergencies. Because I arrived first at the scene, I could see the sense of relief felt by the woman when she saw a volunteer with an orange vest. It’s rewarding but it’s also a big responsibility.”

Tidhar was joined moments later by a United Hatzalah ambulance staffed by EMTs Efrat Hoze and Chanan Afik. The first responders bandaged the woman’s wounds and immobilized her arm to prevent further injury. “Dozens of rock-throwing incidents have been happening every day on Judea and Samaria’s roads and our volunteers in the area have been treating more and more victims of these attacks,” Chanan relayed. “A few days ago I was myself a target of rock-throwing, which thankfully only slightly scratched my car.”

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The victim of the attack stepping into the United Hatzalah ambulance

Efrat, who is also a member of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, sat with the child and attempted to reduce his anxiety by using different psychotrauma techniques. She told him that the incident was over and that she was there to help him. In addition, she asked him short questions and prompted him to act in order to help him overcome his feeling of helplessness. After the child regained his composure, Efrat attended to the mother, who also showed signs of distress, providing her with emotional and psychological stabilization. The ambulance crew then evacuated the mother and son to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba for further treatment, while Tidhar stayed to take care of the woman’s vehicle.

“This was the second time I responded to a similar emergency in the span of a few weeks,” Efrat recounted after the incident. “Even when we respond to emergencies we have to be concerned for our own safety since we can’t rule out the possibility that rocks might be hurled at us. The helmet and ceramic vest that we received from the organization are usually stored in my trunk and recently I decided that it was more cautious to move them to the front of the car. It’s a scary reality.”

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