A South Florida doctor now has six nephews fighting in the Israel-Hamas war, including one who joined up days before he was set to be married.
Dr. Ari Ciment is a pulmonologist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. He becomes emotional while speaking of his nephew, Gabriel, now back with the Israel Defense Forces.
"Gabriel is just, you know, he's excited to be defending…" Ciment told NBC6.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
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It was just days before Gabriel's wedding when Hamas struck Israel with surprise attacks. Ciment said then Gabriel found out what happened to his commander.
"His commander was one of the commanders who was killed during the terrorist attacks. He reported to his unit that 'I'm going back in there, I'm gonna try to save as many lives as I can,'" Ciment said.
Gabriel knew what he had to do so instead of getting married, he went back to fight.
“My nephew said that he couldn’t get married knowing that his commander died so it was just an act of bravery," Ciment said.
With the wedding put on hold, Gabriel joined his five other cousins, who are also fighting for Israel.
"The night he was supposed to get married, they all picked him up they put him on their shoulders, 'mazel tov, we'll celebrate your wedding whenever we can," Ciment said.
Ciment is also doing his part from South Florida, sending medical aid to Israel. But he said the real heroes are the ones like his nephew.
"Really defending with your life on the spot, with guns, there is an added level of real heroism," he said.
