Shot in the Head Three Times in Gaza

Originally from Montreal, Shlomi Stock came to Israel for his gap year at the age of 18 and fell in love with the country.

After finishing his studies abroad, he went back to Canada, settled and started running a business. But he began questioning himself.

“Even when I was in high school I would tell my friends that I was going to move to Israel and join the army,” Shlomi told Aish.com. “My friends would laugh and say, ‘Shlomi, every kid sees a video of Israel and says they want to draft! But 99.9% of kids don’t end up doing it.’”

But Shlomi felt he had to do more than send donations to the Israeli army; he wanted to fight terrorists. Finally, he realized that he had to stop procrastinating and make the bold decision to move to Israel. He booked a one-way ticket and told himself, I am going to make it work no matter what.

Although he did not know much Hebrew, Shlomi volunteered for the army and was drafted about a month after arriving in Israel. He was in the Givati unit and did about a year and half of combat service.

He was supposed to complete his service at the end of June 2024, but the IDF went back into Gaza a few days before being discharged. “I didn’t have to go in but I wanted to help.”

Little did he know that he would be a recipient of a string of miracles. “It’s one thing to hear about miracles, but it is quite another to see it before your eyes. I personally experienced miracle after miracle...”

October 7^th Our first miraculous mission –our entire unit made it out alive!”

Before the war broke out on October 7th, Shlomi was in the Givati unit, training in the Golan Heights up north. The army was planning to simulate a mock war week.

“The bus was there ready to take us, for a week of training. Instead, on October 7th we were awoken in the morning and told that 50 terrorists infiltrated the country. We had to hop on buses and go down south. Even though we came from the Golan Heights we were the first battalion to arrive down south. We arrived late in the morning and went straight into battle.”

Shlomi described that there were terrorists everywhere. Instead of fifty terrorists, just Kfar Azza alone had over 200 terrorists.

“We had half the town, they had half the town. We were trying to save people while the terrorists were raining down mortar missiles. They were so close to us that they could aim and shoot precisely at us. The entire day was filled with constant sirens. But we could not go into the shelters like everyone else. We had to keep fighting and just pray that it would not hit us.”

One missile landed on the house next to Shlomi. “Shrapnel flew everywhere but it sort of polka dotted in between everyone. We were going into houses, grabbing kids with one hand and shooting terrorists with the other. Yet, no one got hit in the process.

“When we got into our armored vehicle, we got hit by an RPG, but no one died. We all watched as an RPG flew right in the middle of the armored vehicle, zipping right past out heads. We went into a building that was booby trapped, but miraculously it did not explode.

“On that first mission we managed to save 150 Jewish civilians and thank God, our entire unit made it out alive and unscathed.”

Dodging RPGs

One time, Shlomi and his unit entered a United Nations school in Gaza.

All over the walls of the classroom were posters of the school principal armed with guns and dressed in a Hamas uniform. The textbooks in the classroom were about the “evil Jews” who needed to be destroyed.

“This is a school funded by the US. Yet, it was no secret that they openly declared that all Jews must die.”

The Israeli Army issued warnings for immediate evacuation prior to their attack, urging everyone to leave the premises. This also gave the terrorists time to flee.

When Shlomi went in with his battalion, their goal was to clear the area. They were at the corner of the building trying to secure the area. They got a report that there could be 3-5 terrorists coming towards them and that they should be prepared.

“Out of nowhere, terrorists start popping up out of every window raining down RPG’s on us. We were eight guys in the corner of the building being attacked by 35 terrorists. We had to hold this place or the whole building could get overrun by terrorists. The terrorists were shooting at us from about fifty feet away. If one RPG would hit our room on the second floor, we were all going to die. We watched the rockets come straight towards our head. Then, at the last second, they curved to the right, to the left and or upward. It was wild to see them shift direction before our eyes.”

In the middle of the fight, Shlomi’s officer Ro’i Miller sent two guys to the third floor to try to get a better angle and location against the terrorists. The two men came back and said, “There is no third floor. It doesn’t exist anymore.”

Every RPG hit the floor above them; not one hit their floor.

“There is no explanation. You have an RPG coming right at you and it just curves in midair? It’s not something that you can really explain. We all made it out alive again. My commander got shrapnel in his shoulder. Minor injury, totally fine – by miracle.”

Getting Shot in the Head

One morning, Shlomi was in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza, preparing for that day’s mission. He was putting on tefillin for his morning prayers when he received intelligence that terrorists were about 100 feet away.

Shlomi quickly took off his tefillin, grabbed his helmet and started the search for the terrorists. Because of the urgency of the situation, Shlomi didn’t have time to take off the large metal piece on the helmet that enables night vision. That piece is heavy and uncomfortable and soldiers never like to wear it during the daytime. But Shlomi had no time to remove it.

His team sent a drone throughout the building and saw that there were four terrorists. Shlomi and his platoon managed to kill three of them. They assumed the fourth had run away.

Shlomi and his officer Ro‘i proceeded to survey each room, going room by room to double check that all the terrorists were gone. But there were two rooms where the drone feed cut out. In one of those areas, a terrorist was hiding behind a child’s bed. He started spraying bullets into every direction. In a split second the soldier next to Shlomi was shot and before he had time to process it, Shlomi was shot numerous times. The impact caused Shlomi to be propelled ten feet backwards, crashing into the wall behind him. Although he was in full gear weighing 275 pounds with 85 pounds of gear on him, he flew back like a feather.

Half a second later, he opened his eyes and miraculously stood up.

Shlomi’s helmet hit by a bullet

“I wondered, I'm still alive? Is this a dream? Two guys grabbed me and started to help me up. I didn’t lose consciousness but my sight was blurred. I was badly injured as blood was coming down my face. I was able to run out of the zone of fire on my own, which probably saved my life. Otherwise, they would have had to carry me out and we all could have died.”

Shlomi ran into the ambulance (armored personnel carrier) which brought him to the border of Gaza. He was then taken by helicopter to the Be’er Sheva hospital.

“From the front lines to the hospital was only 25 minutes. This is the fastest medical care you can find anywhere in a battle zone.”

When the dust settled, it was determined that three bullets hit his head. The bullets had struck Shlomi’s helmet precisely where the night light was situated. Had it been an inch to the right or left, he would have been killed.

Shalom Jacobs Singer & Cantor on Instagram

One bullet got caught in the cushion that makes the helmet more comfortable. “The bullet just stopped. None of it makes any sense. Of course, I had pieces of shrapnel that went into my head. I had 60 fractures in my skull, internal bleeding and a bad concussion. However, I was in hospital for only one week and after that I walked out on my own two feet.”

“When I tell people I got shot in the head three times, people cannot believe that I am alive. It is truly incredible.”

Continue Praying

Shlomi urges everyone to keep praying.

“Even if you’re living outside of Israel, it is your country, it is your people. You can be part of it by praying, doing mitzvot and not fighting with one another. Even if it feels that you are all the way on the other side of the world, we as soldiers can feel your love and support. Even the cards and notes coming in from the children - it makes a huge difference and we realize that we are not fighting alone in this dark and scary place.”

Shlomi is currently recovering and is looking forward to a better future. He is seriously dating someone and excited to embark on their next chapter together.

“I met Hila on a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I was on my way back home and it was her birthday. She was on her way to the Kotel to pray. I held the door for her as she got on and thought, Wow! What a catch!

“We ‘happened’ to sit right next to each other and started talking. The rest is history.

“She has been by my side throughout the entire war. Every two months, we get 24 hours off and we get to go home. But since I am a lone soldier, I don’t have a home, so I go to Hila’s parents’ house and she makes me a hot meal and they take care of me.”

Shlomi feels that he has met his dream girl and cannot wait to begin their life together. Last week the happy couple got engaged! Mazel tov!

May Shlomi merit a complete, full and speedy recovery.