Last Thursday, a stray bullet fired by combatants on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights struck and Israeli girl, wounding her in the back.
Luckily for the girl, Aviya Frankel, the bullet caused no serious damage, missing her vital organs.
But the bullet nearly struck Aviya’s spinal cord, her father Shai told Arutz Sheva on Sunday. A few centimeters over and the injuries could have left Aviya paralyzed – or worse.
According to Shai, the incident occurred Thursday afternoon, while he and his family – with the exception of Aviya – were relaxing in their home in Hispin, in the Golan.
At the time the shot was fired, Aviya was hiking outside the town of Aloni Habashan, also in the Golan, with the local chapter of the Bnei Akiva Religious Zionist youth movement.
Initially it was believed that Aviya had only been very slightly injured by a rock which had exploded after being struck by the gunfire, spreading fragments into her arm and back. During her first trip to the hospital, in fact, no signs of a bullet wound were found.
After she was injured, a friend of Aviya called her parents to notify them that Aviya had suffered a minor injury and to reassure them that everything was going to be fine.
“We thought that it’s an [organized] hike and everything will be fine,” Shai told Arutz Sheva, but then a few minutes later the group’s educational counselor called up about an injury that wasn’t serious but that they didn’t know what it was exactly, but that it looked like they would need to evacuate her to the hospital.”
A few minutes later Shai and his wife received another call, again from the educational counselor, but this time she said that Aviya was about to evacuated by helicopter. From what initially appeared to be a very minor injury, the situation quickly escalated to a medical emergency, with Aviya’s parents left in the dark as to what exactly had transpired.
“We saw an intensive care unit, a regular [ambulance] unit, police units,” said Shai, describing the scene just outside Aloni Habashan when he and his wife arrived.
“Police were taking testimony from Aviya, while a medic was explaining that it was unclear what had injured her, but she believed that once we got to the hospital, [Aviya] would be released quickly. [People mentioned] scenarios involving gunshots or even worse things, but it seemed like it was something else entirely.”
Even after Aviya and her parents arrived at the hospital, few answers were forthcoming.
“We went to the hospital – my wife went with Aviya in the ambulance – but we didn’t get anything official beyond what we heard in the field [the scene of the incident]. We were left with a lot of uncertainty. The girl was in a state of shock, especially from everything going on around her, which made her a feel overwhelmed,” said Shai, adding that the helicopter evacuation was ultimately cancelled.
A surgeon inspected Aviya’s injury, opening it up and looking for any foreign objects, but nothing was found.
Aviya was released, the family returned home, and the story appeared to be over. After they got back home, however, Aviya said she was suffering from serious pains in her back. Her mother felt around her back and felt a hard object underneath the skin. Shai consulted with a neighbor who is certified as a paramedic who recommended they return Aviya immediately to Ziv Hospital.
Once there, Aviya was returned to the emergency room. This time, doctors quickly found the foreign object – a bullet, lodged two centimeters from the entry wound.
“She [the doctor] saw that there was something there. I don’t know why they didn’t see it in the afternoon [during the first visit to the hospital].”
The bullet just narrowly missed Aviya’s spine by several centimeters.
“It appears that the bullet ricocheted off of a rock and penetrated her back horizontally. A few more centimeters and it would have reached her spine – then the whole thing would have ended up very differently.”