He lost his pregnant wife in the Hamas attack and warned Israeli troops about an impending ambush.
Hamid Abu Arar says he relives October 7, 2023, every day. That morning, Hamas attackers fired on the car in which he was travelling to work with his pregnant wife, Fatma, and their young son, Elias. Fatma, who was four months pregnant, was killed. Hamid and Elias, then about six months old, were wounded. Ynet published their story as part of a project about survivors of the attack.
Hamid hid with the baby for hours. Wounded in the shoulder and leg, he used his phone to pass information to security forces. When he heard attackers discussing an ambush on approaching Israeli soldiers, he decided he had to warn them. He removed his shirt so the soldiers would not mistake him for an attacker or someone who had taken a child, then came out of hiding. A soldier opened fire, and shrapnel wounded him. Hamid said he suffered 11 fragments. An officer stopped the shooting, and Hamid managed to alert the troops to the planned ambush.
After treatment at Soroka Medical Center, the family faced a different struggle. Hamid and Fatma’s nine children, seven girls and two boys, had lost their mother. The oldest is now 11. Elias is three, and his father says he is receiving care from an infant and early-childhood psychiatrist for trauma. Hamid says the children continue to ask for their mother and experience difficult emotional reactions. He arranges extra lessons and sees their education as a promise he made with Fatma.
Hamid has not returned to work. His days revolve around the children, their schooling, appointments and care. He takes medication himself and returns to the site of the attack about every week or ten days. He sometimes sits at the junction for hours, speaking to Fatma and telling her about the children. He says Elias closely resembles his mother and that he cannot imagine being without his son.
Hamid was born in Gaza and left in 1995. He says the attack had nothing to do with Islam and recalls that the gunman knew Fatma was Arab and Muslim. He also insists that Gaza’s entire population should not be equated with Hamas. After the attack, he received permanent status and an Israeli identity card. He thanked Interior Minister Moshe Arbel for helping him, while criticising the house-demolition policy promoted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Relatives have urged Hamid to try to build a new life, but he says he cannot imagine another partner. He describes his nine children as his main source of strength and says he intends to keep the promise he and Fatma made to give them an education. His account focuses both on surviving the attack and on the long work of caring for a family living with its consequences.