Star of ‘Fauda’ Netflix series badly injured during combat in Gaza
By Lauren Izso, Tim Lister, Ido Soen and Jessie Yeung, CNN
(CNN) — A top Israeli actor, best known for his role as a special forces soldier in hit Netflix series “Fauda,” has been badly wounded in Gaza while fighting for Israel’s military against Hamas, according to his family and the hospital where he is being treated.
Idan Amedi, 35, is in critical condition in the ICU at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv, a spokesperson for the hospital said.
However, the star’s father told Israeli website Walla!: “There is no danger to his life.”
Amedi, who is of Kurdish descent, shot to fame in the 2010s as a singer-songwriter before joining the cast of “Fauda” in 2017. He plays a member of an Israeli special forces unit in the series, which follows an Israeli agent who comes out of retirement to hunt for a Palestinian fighter he thought he’d killed, according to the show’s official Netflix page.
Amedi had volunteered to fight for the Israeli military in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, according to “Fauda” co-creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharaoff.
“Idan is a true hero and from the first day of the war he decided to put everything aside and go fight. First in the north and then in the south [of Gaza],” they told Walla!
Prominent Israelis, including minister without portfolio Chili Tropper and folk-rock singer Shlomo Artzi also voiced their concern for Amedi and wished him a speedy recovery, Walla! reported.
Shortly before he was wounded, Amedi spoke to an Israeli television channel about combat in Gaza.
“It’s crazy, what they [Hamas] built here,” he told Channel 12. “The operation here is on a very central [Hamas tunnel] route. We found kilometers of tunnels here, weaponry, even special weaponry. We’ve been busy the past two days trying to destroy it.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) alleges Hamas has built a labyrinth of tunnels that spans the entirety of the strip – an underground network used to transport people and goods, store rockets and ammunition, and house Hamas control centers.
Hamas in 2021 claimed to have built 500 kilometers (about 311 miles) of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing.
During its ongoing offensive in the enclave, the Israeli military claims it has destroyed hundreds of tunnel shafts and discovered many more – including at the Al-Shifa Hospital, which came under siege by the IDF in November, drawing widespread international condemnation over what doctors described as “catastrophic” conditions inside.
At least 185 Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded in combat in Gaza since Israeli forces ramped up their ground offensive in late October, according to the IDF.
Since October 7, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 59,000 others injured in Gaza, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the enclave said Tuesday.
The-CNN-Wire
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