This Man Rescued 120 People on Oct. 7th

On October 7th, farmer Oz Davidian risked his life, driving back and forth to the Nova festival site and surrounding areas 15 times to save youngsters and bring them to safety. “I knew that there were people dying and no one was there to help them. I kept going back. I knew that I had been placed there by God. I could not ignore what I was seeing. My only regret is that I was not able to save more.”

On the morning of October 7th, Oz and his family were awoken by the sound of rockets overhead. “Living in the south, we’ve learned to recognize various kinds of missiles and this was obviously an unusual attack.” Oz lives only five minutes away from the site of the Nova festival and the sky was laced with flashes of light as the rockets were being intercepted.

After receiving a Whatsapp message from a family member pleading for anyone to help the wounded, Oz was determined to help. He secured his own wife and four daughters in the safe room, locked the door to the house and told them, “I’m going. I’ll be back.”

He drove out of his home in Moshav Maslul, near Ofakim, and within moments he saw people running. He asked them what was happening. The youngsters, out of breath, almost choked on their words, “We were at a party when terrorists started shooting. Many people have already been killed.”

Oz brought them to safety on his family’s farm. Oz grew up there and knew the roads like the back of his hand. He knew every pothole in the ground, gap in the fence, and unpaved road. “I live very close to the location of the festival, so I was familiar with the side roads which helped me in this mission.”

Oz and a group of survivors being rescued on that fateful day

Feeling the responsibility to save these kids resting on his shoulders, he started driving back and forth on the unpaved roads. This saved his life because the terrorists were waiting on the main roads ready to fire at any oncoming cars.

Oz saw the sky filled with smoke and fire. He still didn’t fully understand what had happened but saw dead bodies everywhere.

He found more kids fleeing for their lives and started packing his pickup truck to the brim. He saved one group of panic-stricken people, then another and another, methodically bringing them back to safety on the farm.

“Can You Come Get Me?”

Those saved shared Oz’s contact information with their friends and people started sending Oz their location in droves, begging for his help.

One pleaded: “Can you come get me?”

Yet another wrote: “Please help us. There are many of us here. At least five.”

Others wrote that their friends were wounded in the stomach or had even died.

Oz asked for their location and went directly to that spot. This was how he saved 120 young people.

“I was very scared. I have a wife and four kids. But I also knew that there were many kids in there and they had no one to help them.”

Oz’s List

When he dropped them off, he had them write their names on a piece of paper. This later became “Oz’s List,” the title of the documentary about his story. Oz’s list grew and grew. That day he saved over 120 people’s lives.

Oz shut off all emotion and shifted into autopilot. He later reflected on the miraculous nature of the day. He realized it was incredulous that he was able to enter 15 times and survive the ordeal.

Oz Davidian’s trips to the nature party as documented by Channel 13. Source: Screenshot.

“It was very frightening each time I entered the war zone. The terrorists tried many times to shoot at me directly and they were not successful, so it is clear that there was a cloud of Divine protection surrounding me on this mission. I realized that if I would not continue, many of these children would not have made it to the other side. I am not religious in practice but I believe in God. I prayed that I would be successful and that I would return safely and rescue as many people as I could possibly rescue.”

Some of the Nova participants asked him if he was part of the IDF. He said, “No, I am just a simple Jew who came to help.”

He continued, “The children were certain that I was part of the Mossad because it was unfathomable to them that a simple guy would do such an act.”

Each time Oz exited the site and drove them towards safety he told them, “Don't look left or right. I don’t want you to have to see the remnants of the day.”

He tried to calm them down and handed them cigarettes to help them relax. One of the kids in the car was completely speechless and did not say a word. He was just silently crying.

Elderly Father

At one point Oz saw an elderly man, the father of a boy named Magen Par.

Magen had called his father to say goodbye. “Tell mom I love her. Do not come here, it's full of terrorists.” His father ignored the warning and drove straight towards the party.

When Oz saw the old man driving his red car he asked him, “Hey, what are you doing here? It's too dangerous for you to be here.”

He answered, “If I lose my son I don’t have anything. I only have one son. He’s my only child and I’m not leaving without him.”

Oz begged him to stay put and offered to search for his son. Shortly after Oz returned with a truck full of children. As they approached before Oz could even stop the car, the boy jumped out of the car and embraced his father in a tight hug. Everyone was crying when they saw this reunion.

Photo credit: Slutzky Productions, Reshet 13 and Go2Films

Narrow Escape

There were hundreds of bodies riddled with bullets and burnt cars scattered everywhere. Oz could smell and taste the smoke. “You see the extent of evil. You do not even see this type of horror in the movies. There was no one to protect these Jewish children.”

At one point he found himself in the middle of a street that was previously rampaged by the terrorists. He saw a bike on the left-hand side and an Israeli police car right next to it. He looked closer and saw someone kneeling next to a body next to the car. “I thought it was a Jewish medic helping our own. ‘Oh wow, there are medics dealing with the people, that’s good.’

“I pulled up right next to him and asked, ‘Hey, what's going on here? Are there more wounded that need help?’

When the man answered in Arabic, Oz realized that this was no Jewish medic. He was a terrorist who then started shooting at him point blank.

Oz pressed hard on the gas. Other terrorists started chasing him and shooting at him on all sides.

“I even saw them pulling up on motorcycles right next to me and shooting.”

He managed to escape by going off road.

While escaping, Oz kept thinking about the fact that just weeks ago he was with his kids at a professional soccer game. “I kept thinking about the game and being with my family singing and dancing. I envisioned spending happy carefree time with my children and that gave me strength to continue. That's what uplifted me and helped me escape.”

Booby Trap

Hamas even booby trapped the dead bodies. Oz searched the fields looking for signs of life. He saw dead bodies scattered everywhere. One body had a hand grenade in his hand.

Oz continued working to rescue festival goers the entire day until nightfall.

“I kept it up like a machine. I had nothing in view except bringing them out. In the middle of the day I went home for ten minutes to reassure my wife, to tell her everything is okay, to gain a little strength, and she told me, ‘Go ahead. You’re doing important work.’”

Oz’s New Extended Family

Oz feels that each person he saved is now his child, eternally bonded.

“I consider all of the children that I brought out of the battlefield my own children. I check on them frequently to make sure they are doing well. We have created a Whatsapp group and I am in touch with each and every one of them. We meet often and speak all the time. I visit them. Many are in therapy and are recovering.”

On October 30^th Oz received a certificate of Honor from the State of Israel. Many of the survivors plan to attend the ceremony.

One couple that Oz saved plans to get married. “They expressed to me that with the help of God, and when they have a child, they want to name him Oz and honor me as the Sandak at the Brit Milah (circumcision).”

One of the Nova participants said of Oz, “He’s our angel. He came and saved us. If it wouldn't be for him we wouldn't be here today.”

Those He Could Not Save

Although there are so many who owe their lives to Oz, he was not able to save everyone who sought his help. He considers this a failure.

“There are mothers who sent me to go get their kids and I got to their locations and their kids were dead. That sits very heavy with me.”

One mother sent Oz her son's location. He went to the location and saw body after body. At first he thought he was in the wrong spot.

“I kept seeing dead bodies. I did not know what to tell her. I wanted to lie to her. I told her there are many battalions of the army and that they won’t let me in. It took me three and half months to build the courage to tell her the truth; that all I saw was death.”

Oz’s family reminds him, “The fact that there were casualties doesn’t take away from everything you did. Everyone owes you a debt of gratitude.”

Trauma

Healing from his trauma has been very difficult. Oz explained he had never seen so many scattered bodies riddled with bullets. “Listen, it's hard. I am still living this nightmare.”

Oz has two different recurring dreams. In the first, Oz is in the field saving others. He has left the house but the terrorists are in his home threatening his family.

In another dream, he is driving in the middle of the highway with the terrorists surrounding him. This time, though, the gas will not accelerate and he is stuck. The car will not move and he wakes up shaking in fright.

“I started going to therapy for this, but I have other dreams that creep up too. I have come to terms with the fact that I have post-traumatic stress that will probably be with me for the rest of my life. I have to learn to live with it.”

Oz attends therapy sessions with the kids he saved. “We are family for life. If I do not feel good or if I’m having a bad day, I simply call them or speak to them in the Whatsapp group that we created. They lift me up. These are my kids. They will carry me for the rest of my life.”

“I want the world to understand that these terrorists did not discriminate; they killed Jews, Muslims, Bedouins, Druzim, Christians… The impact of this attack has ripple effects across the entire world, not just for the Jewish people. We are the Am HaNetzech, the Eternal Nation, and we are not afraid and we are not backing down. We will not stop until we get back each and every one of the hostages. The Jewish People live and die for each other and this is our strength which no one can take away from us.”