IDF commando Yoav Tzivoni remembers the moment he was hit by the rocket-propelled grenade in Beit Lahia that collapsed is lung and blew off his left leg below the knee.
“I flew like a puppet without strings,” Tzivoni says in “Fighters,” a new docuseries in English that follows soldiers wounded in the Swords of Iron war as they undergo rehabilitation at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan.
“Fighters” is streaming on the Izzy platform, which focuses on Israeli content.
A medic’s finger on a severed neck artery kept him alive on the flight to the hospital.
Tzivoni, a medic and marksman in the Maglan unit, says on the show that he struggled to deal with the death of a comrade, Zvika Levi, who was mortally wounded during the December 2023 attack.
Still, Tzivoni maintains a positive attitude despite many surgeries, pain and his injuries.
(Maglan specializes in operating behind enemy lines using advanced technologies and weaponry.)
“Four days after I woke up, when things started to sink in, I decided to make a decision that I’m not letting this break me,” Tzivoni told JNS. “There’s two ways to deal with this. You either look at yourself as a victim and say, ‘Why did I deserve this? Why did this happen to me?’ Or you look at the other side. You say, ‘This is the situation. I’m signing a new contract on life right now and focus on the things I have left and the things that I can do and not the things that I can’t do.’”
The 31-year-old said that during his recovery in the hospital, almost everyone he knew came to visit and give him support. In the episode, he jokes with his French girlfriend, Victoria, who lives with him in Tel Aviv.
Tzivoni, who noted that the Hamas terrorists fought in civilian clothes, said he appreciated the American-Jewish community for sending gear that soldiers needed. He said he decided to take part in the series because it was important to show the human side of Israel’s military.
He said he was not surprised by the ruthlessness and depravity of Hamas, including propaganda ceremonies for hostage releases and the transfer of corpses.
“It shows their real face,” Tzivoni said.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Lt. Col. (res.) Maayan Mulla, 40, was in India, having moved there with his wife, Rachel, and three children seven years earlier. Mulla and Rachel met in the army; they married 18 years ago, exactly one year after their first date.
As CEO of one company and owner of several others, he was used to flying to London, Dubai, New York and other places for business. It took him about 25 minutes to decide to fly to Israel and prepare for combat, Mulla said.
“It’s instinctive,” Mulla told JNS. “It’s based on the values I’ve grown up with since a child. … In the end, what else do we have in life? … If you’re part of a community, you have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to support each other.”
A battalion commander in an engineering unit, Mulla said he served for 14 years and had commanded thousands of soldiers in three previous wars.
This time, in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, on Dec. 12, 2023, a Hamas RPG hit a soldier, David, right in front of Mulla
At first, Mulla didn’t realize that he himself was wounded.
At the hospital, it became clear that he had around 150 pieces of shrapnel in his body. After 13 surgeries, that’s down to about 90, he said. He had several injuries that caused nerve damage.
The series shows him in a wheelchair, nervous about seeing his kids for the first time, six months after Oct. 7. His face lights up as they hug him.
“It was one of the most powerful moments maybe in my life,” Mulla said. “ … For me, my children are my power.”
We see him bond with combat photographer David Revayev, who lost his right leg in the attack.
The new reality
The series shows soldiers having to adjust to the new reality of needing help.
“Our ego is very high,” Mulla said. “Once you are coming from a place where you’re so strong and see the whites of the eyes of your enemies and you’re both fighting with bullets, then to be in a position where someone needs to help you, it’s impossible. You prefer to die rather than for someone to have to help you.”
Mulla said he knew that being a part of the show would expose his vulnerability and show him in moments of pain. But he wanted people to see things they might not otherwise.
“Many who got killed in the war, or injured, in a short time they become a number,” Mulla said. “They forget there is a person behind them, and this person has a full support structure of people behind him. This was an opportunity to show what we are going through. People call you a hero. That’s not what we are looking for.”
He said he used to resent Jews who voiced strong opinions about Israel but didn’t live there and serve, but now his opinion has changed. He said that he now realizes that what happens in Israel affects the global Jewish community, which must worry about safety and consider whether to still send their children to public school or a Jewish school. He hopes that Jews will keep their heads high, their chests out and be proud of their culture.
Reflecting on his service and injury in the war, he said: “Every time you cross the border to an enemy side, your life is a Russian roulette,” Mulla said. “Some of us will not come back. Some will come back injured, like me. And the others will come back whole. But the scar of crossing the border and fighting face to face with enemies will not leave us till our last day.”
Content from Israel
Nati Dinnar, co-founder and CEO of Izzy, told JNS that he knows many American streamers are fearful to platform anything related to Oct. 7, indeed hesitant regarding any shows about Israel.
“I made up my mind we can’t allow content from Israel not to be heard just because Jewish executives are saying ‘Not now,’” Dinnar said. “If you look at Israel’s history, we see we have to do things ourselves, from the nuclear plant to a Start-Up Nation and now to storytelling.”
Tzivoni, who is using a prosthetic leg and is shown with a scar on his neck, made it a goal to rejoin his IDF reserve unit. He did.
There is one thing people should not take for granted, Mulla said.
“In life, we can lose many things, we can lose money, hands, legs and other things,” he said. “What we can’t lose is what we give to others. What I ask is, do not stop giving to others without expecting to get anything back.”