Ronit Saved 50 People From Rocket Attack After Warning Bus Driver To Stop

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — On the 9th of October, just two days after the Simchas Torah massacre, Ronit Cohen went to her work as a Mikvah attendant in Beitar Illit. She was travelling on a crowded bus when her daughter suddenly called concerned and asked where she was. “She asked me whether I could hear the siren,” Ronit recalls. “At that moment I realized that there was a rocket siren but nobody could hear it.” She immediately shut the call and ran over to the driver.

“I cried out:’There’s a siren, we must stop.’ [Home Front rules stipulate that during a rocket siren people should exit vehicles and enter buildings or lie face down on the ground.]

The bus stopped next to a building and some 50 anxious passengers ran for cover. Ronit was the last person trying to get in. “Just when I was about to enter the building, I heard a fearsome, powerful noise. Before I understood what had happened, I fell. Apparently the rocket fell not far from us and hit the bus. The roof was broken, windows smashed and cars nearby were burnt. Fortunately all the passengers had exited. I’m a mother of six and I prayed that my children wouldn’t be left without me.”

The force of the explosion caused shrapnel to fly, piercing deep into Ronit’s legs. She was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, where she underwent treatment in the orthopedic department. She is now in rehabilitation at Hadassah Har Hatzofim, where she is undergoing phsical and occupational therapy and regaining mobility. “At first I didn’t imagine I would stand on my feet, I was very worried. The rehabilitation was hard and I could hardly get out of bed due to the pain. Slowly I got up and started doing physical therapy exercises as well as receiving emotional therapy which helped. Now I’m in a much better place. Every day I advance a bit and can now stand without a walker. I need to get back to myself for my family.”