From the Inferno of Highway 232 to a Command Classroom: The Miraculous Reunion of Two Officers Bound by Blood and Valor

After surviving a Hamas van escape on Oct 7 and losing his son in Gaza, Doron Aloni discovers his classroom peer was the man who saved his life.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 22, 2026, 6:51 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Channel 12

The Dawn of a Long and Bloody Day in Ofakim

The morning of October 7, 2023, began with the piercing sound of alarms that disrupted the holiday silence in Ofakim, a moment Deputy Chief Doron Aloni immediately recognized as a departure from routine escalations. As the commander of the Lachish Regional Police central unit, Aloni left his home only to encounter two pickup trucks filled with Hamas militants just 300 meters from his front door. Amidst constant fire, he navigated from scene to scene, witnessing vehicles riddled with bullets and terrified civilians. In one instance, he intercepted a couple on electric scooters heading toward the fighting, directing them to safety, an act for which he was thanked by a survivor only two years later at a memorial service.

The Late Senior Lieutenant General Jiar Davidov. Killed on the spot.

A Father’s Desperate Mission Amidst the Chaos

While Aloni managed the tactical response on the ground, his personal life was under immediate threat as his phone buzzed with desperate messages from his sons. His eldest, Eran, was at home, but his second son, Amit, was trapped at the Nova music festival, whispering into the phone that he was being hunted by gunmen. Driven by the singular goal of reaching his son, Aloni joined a Caracal vehicle led by the late Senior Lieutenant Jiar Davidov, the Rahat station commander. The group, which included an intelligence officer and two additional police officers, pushed toward the festival grounds, unaware they were driving directly into a sophisticated ambush.

The Hamas terrorists' Toyota in which they were traveling during the rescue