When it comes to family, there is little most won’t do to save those they love. But when you have military experience, that reach becomes far more effective. Take Noam Tibon, a retired Israel Major General and former senior commander of the Israeli paratroopers, who took his family’s rescue into his own hands.
He and his wife, Gali, heard about an attack and sped to their family with little more than a pistol. They left their home in Tel Aviv, traveling to Along the way, he took on armed men, helped save Israeli military members, and ultimately was able to save his family.
Thankfully, Amir Tibon, his wife, Miri Bernovsky-Tibon, and their two daughters, 1 and 3 were found safe in their kibbutz, or village. They are now living with their family and rescuers in Tel Aviv.
How the rescue from the Hamas terror attack went down
On the morning of October 7, Miri woke to the sound of a rocket. The parents soon ran to their daughters, who were asleep in a reinforced concrete wall. As the family hid, they heard gunshots and voices yelling in Arabic. Amir, who worked for a local newspaper, texted colleagues and learned about the breadth of the attack.
The event is now dubbed a “massacre” that took place as part of the surprise attacks in the Gaza Strip. Over 100 people were killed, with over 20 still considered missing.
“All over the kibbutz right now, people are crying for help and nobody’s coming,” Amir texted his Dad, in an interview with CBS News’s 60 Minutes. “And this, this may be, may be it.”
Noam told them to stay hidden in the safe room while he and Gali headed to help. En route to Nahal Oz, the two were stopped twice at checkpoints and told they couldn’t travel any further South. However, the pair defied orders, first traveling through a field, then pushing through the second checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Amir and Miri’s neighbors were being kidnapped, some of whom are believed to still be held captive in the Gaza Strip. They watched the event as it was livestreamed on one of the victim’s phones.
“The Hamas terrorists, I mean, there were hundreds of them around and inside the kibbutz,” Amir said. “The numbers are impossible to comprehend,” he also told CBS News.
After the second checkpoint, Noam and Gali helped rescue a couple who were injured and had hidden themselves under leaves. Next, they helped Israeli soldiers who were injured while fighting off an attack alongside Noam. The group ended up in battle together, while a few soldiers were shot in the process. Rather than let them die, the retired soldier said, he took them to Gali, who was waiting in a nearby shelter. She then helped get the injured men to a hospital where they could receive treatment.
Next, Noam found a group of Special Forces soldiers and joined their efforts. The soldiers say that Hamas was very much in control during the attack, which meant slot movement to avoid detection.
“… if you run too fast, they will shoot you from the behind,” he told CBS News. The group cleared homes door by door while Noam made progress toward his family, whose phone had died.
Miraculously, the young girls were able to stay quiet, aiding in the family’s ability to stay hidden. By 4 pm, Noam made it to his family’s home and knocked on the door.
“We hear my father’s voice. He says something like, you know, ‘Open. Open,'” Amir told CBS News. “And Galia, our older daughter, she says, ‘Saba Higiya,’ grandpa is here. And that’s, that’s the first time we started crying.”
The family shared their incredible tale on International news, noting that they are lucky to be alive today.