The Full Testimony
Testimony of
Danny Garkovitch
Danny Garkovich, a member of Kissufim, was the commander of the Fire and Rescue Services volunteer units in the Gaza Envelope area. Even after the evacuation, he continued to manage a logistical network to assist evacuees. On that Saturday, he was at home with his wife, Cecilia. His only daughter and her husband lived next door to them. At the beginning of the event, his daughter started asking for help, informing him that the terrorists had broken into their house, were trying to breach the safe room, and the house was on fire. Danny saw terrorists outside his home and knew he could not leave. The electricity and communications were cut off, and Danny and Cecilia were rescued after about a day. His daughter and son-in-law were not found, but from the evidence, Danny understood that they had been murdered. Their bodies were completely burned, and for a month, they were considered kidnapped. They were buried together, embracing, just as they were found.
Danny said his late daughter Dafna was a responsible woman who always completed her tasks. She was the head of a quality control lab at a factory in the area. His late son-in-law, Iván Illarmendi, was born in Spain, was quiet and friendly, loved to cook, and worked as a food logistics manager in Be’eri. Danny shared that they lived in harmony and had planned to have children.
Place of the event:
Kissufim
Name:
Danny Garkovitch
Organization:
Fire Department
Language:
Hebrew
Credit:
Date: 24.11.2023
Interview: Anat Tzom Ayalon
Photography: Neta Dekel
Video Editing: Anat Tzom Ayalon
Content Editing: Sarit Borenshtein
Translation: Karen Ettinger
Other media
Deborah Mintz
“Another couple of hours we would have been dead anyways”- Deborah Mintz on 7.10 in Nirim
Tamar Livyatan
From Tamar Livyatan's testimony: "I have a daughter and granddaughter here, and I am not leaving without them."
Judith Bdolach
From Judith Bdolach's testimony: "What should have been a calm and quiet work-out, turned into a nightmare"
Amir Levkowiz
From Amir Levkowiz's testimony: ""They'll have to go through me, but they won't get in from here. And I just shoot.""
Jude Ida Turgeman
From Jude Ida Turgeman's testimony: "They realized that we might not live, they realized that their friends were being killed."
Etel Bennett
From Etel Bennett's testimony: "I said to my grandson: "I'm not Rambo. I'm not going to fight anyone with knives.""
Liat Ben- shimol
From Liat Ben- shimol's testimony: "The beautiful and pastoral moshav had turned into a war zone, a battlefield."
Rotem Israel
From Rotem Israel's testimony: "I saw the barrel of a rifle between the closet and the wall, as if death was looking into my face"
Meshi Foldes and
Sebastian Posdsamser
From MESHI FOLDES, Sebabstian Posdsamser's testimony: "I hear gunshots spinning by me from every direction."
Danny Garkovitch
From Danny Garkovitch's testimony: " I performed the tearing mourning ritual in my heart a long time ago."
Regina Solomon
From Regina Solomon's testimony: "“Nobody understands what’s going on; firing, loud noise and many missiles.”"
