Photograph of MDA paramedic Elad Pas kneeling on the side of the road, shielding with his body a newborn baby he had just delivered in an MDA Mobile Intensive Care Unit during a missile alert, symbolizes more than anything the mission of MDA teams—the commitment to saving lives and operating even under fire.
Elad, 43, lives in the community of Carmel in the Hebron Hills and is the father of five children. He has been part of MDA for twenty years, including ten years as a paramedic.
His connection to the organization was born out of personal tragedy and a desire to be able to help others in similar moments. It began after he himself was wounded in a sniper shooting attack in Hebron, where he lived at the time.
“I was walking down the street on Purim,” he recalled. “The first thing I felt was a strong blast wave and a sharp pain in my thigh. I fell to the ground and only then heard the gunshot. Gunfire started being exchanged above me. I ran to cover, and into that chaos an MDA ambulance team arrived. They loaded me into the ambulance very quickly,” he remembered. “I spent several days in the hospital.”Tragically, just two weeks and two days later, another sniper attack occurred, one that left a lasting mark on the country’s collective memory. Elad’s infant niece, Shalhevet Pas, only ten months old, was shot and murdered while sitting in her stroller. Her father, Elad’s brother Yitzhak, was also wounded.
“It was a very difficult and chaotic time for us personally,” Elad recalled. “It completely changed our family. And nationally, it was also a complex time of terror attacks, I mean the country was burning.”
There were several attacks where he happened to arrive first or among the first. One incident that stayed with him occurred between Shiloh and Ofra.
“A boy from Ofra had been shot and was severely wounded. The helplessness I felt seeing a child bleeding and not knowing what to do to help him led me to the decision that I had to do something. That’s why I joined an MDA first aid course.”
Just a day or two after finishing the course, Elad found himself at the scene of a serious car accident, an experience that led to another important decision in his professional path.
“A head-on collision happened right in front of my eyes. I was an EMT who had just finished the course, we had studied how to treat car accident victims. I got out of the car feeling proud. People were looking at me, expecting help, and I had a blackout. My first incident in the field, the exact situation I had trained for, and I had no idea what to do.”
Shortly afterward, an MDA first responder arrived and began managing the scene, giving Elad instructions. Soon after, an MDA Mobile Intensive Care Unit arrived and the team handled the situation with professionalism and skill.
“That moment made everything click for me,” he said. “I understood the responsibility. As an EMT, people trust you and expect you to help. I realized that to save lives it’s not enough to just take a course, you have to be active and gain experience.”
He joined as a volunteer in the Jerusalem region, committing to two shifts each week for eight years.
After those eight years, Elad decided to deepen his knowledge in emergency medicine and joined MDA’s paramedic training program. For the past ten years, he has served as an MDA paramedic in the Negev region.
Earlier this week, he was transporting a woman in labor to the hospital when he realized the baby was about to be born and that he would need to deliver the baby himself.
“The baby was born blue,” he said. “We had to provide ventilation.”
And as if the drama inside the intensive care ambulance wasn’t enough, alerts of missile fire from Iran were received at the same time.
After several minutes of professional treatment, the baby’s condition improved and he began breathing more effectively. The team then searched for a safe place to take cover according to safety guidelines.
“It was surreal,” Elad said. “A baby coming into the world, a moment that symbolizes life, renewal, hope—while explosions and sirens are happening in the background. And in the middle of all of that you have a baby who was born four minutes ago, who you just helped breathe. Such a fragile little human, and all you want to do is protect him from the threatening world and give him one more safe moment of innocence.”
“It was a very meaningful moment for me,” he continued. “It symbolizes what this job means to us. When I’m with a patient, I am completely there for the patient.”
Other drivers had stopped nearby during the siren.
“I can only imagine what they thought when they saw me stepping out holding such a tiny newborn,” he said.
“Our profession constantly brings us face-to-face with extremes. We are present during people’s most difficult moments, sometimes the last moments of life. And this time, it was the very first moments of life, literally the first breath.”
“For me, it puts life into perspective. It helps me appreciate health, family, routine, and work. Every day we see real tragedies, people with chronic illnesses, young people with severe diseases, victims of car accidents whose lives change in an instant, tragedies involving children and babies.”
“We try to do everything we can to save lives and improve quality of life, but we are constantly encountering these extremes. At the same time, the perspective and inner resilience we gain from this profession are enormous.”
“On our path, the winds are strong, but the view is the most beautiful. And we are committed to being the best, the fastest, the most professional, and the most humane. This is a mission.”
That mission meets MDA teams during national emergencies, whether it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the October 7 attacks, the ongoing Iron Swords war, or missile attacks from Iran.
“We’re used to going from zero to one hundred very quickly,” Elad said. “It sharpens you. It makes you more alert and better at what you do.”
“Magen David Adom represents the entire fabric of Israeli society, women and men, Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, right-wing and left-wing. Everything.”
“In our organization you find everyone. We don’t always agree on everything, but it’s incredible to see how everyone comes together for one higher purpose: saving lives.”
“I only wish that the unity we see in MDA would spread to the rest of Israeli society,” he said. “Because it is possible.”
