Police commander who lost leg visits wounded Sderot boy

"You will walk again, and when you get out of the hospital, we'll play soccer together," Bar-Lev told the boy.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
bar-lev twito 224.88 (photo credit: Yaakov Lapin)
bar-lev twito 224.88
(photo credit: Yaakov Lapin)
Losing a leg is a trauma that Southern District Police chief Cmdr. Uri Bar-Lev knows well: When he was 20, he lost his in combat in Lebanon. Hence Bar-Lev's promise on Tuesday to eight-year-old Osher Twito, who lost his left leg to a Kassam rocket in Sderot on February 9. "You will walk again, and when you get out of the hospital, we'll play soccer together," Bar-Lev told the boy during his second visit to the children's intensive care unit at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Two days ago, Twito finally learned that he had lost the limb, and he has since been struggling to come to terms with the permanent consequences of his injury, the Southern District Police spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post. "Having lost a leg, I know what he's going through," Bar-Lev said after concluding his visit, stressing that the ordeal was far more difficult for a child. "I am in touch with the family, and we are going to continue to provide continuous, round-the-clock support. We know Osher loves the Liverpool soccer club, and we are planning on flying him to England so that he can watch a match," Bar-Lev said. Twito is undergoing intensive care to stabilize his remaining leg, which doctors have managed to save. He was transferred to Tel Hashomer from Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Bar-Lev made a point of showing the boy his own artificial leg, to prove "that he will get back on his feet," said community police officer Batsheva Zitun, who accompanied Bar-Lev on the visit. "When Bar-Lev promised him that they would play soccer, Osher looked up at him with such a meaningful look in his eyes," Zitun said. "The message to Osher is that he can do anything." The boy's worn-out parents remained at his bedside, while at he same time keeping tabs on the progress of their 19-year-old son, Rami, who was also wounded by the Gazan rocket, though less severely. Immediately after the attack, Osher lost consciousness and needed help breathing. However, he has been making steady progress since then. "The fact that Bar-Lev went through this is a big encouragement for Osher," the boys' mother, Iris, told the Post. "This is a boost for us."