Wounded IDF Reservist Finishes 5 km Race After 2023 Gaza Explosion Injury

Ido Kander, an IDF reservist, completed a 5 km race in the Tel Aviv Marathon’s “Victory of Spirit” division in February 2026 after sustaining severe injuries in an explosion in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, in November 2023. The blast killed four soldiers and injured five others. Kander suffered a broken shoulder and shrapnel wounds that severed a major artery in his leg, requiring a vascular bypass.

He was evacuated by helicopter to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he underwent emergency surgeries and remained sedated and ventilated for a day and a half. Three weeks later, Kander was transferred to Sheba Medical Center, where he spent 154 days in rehabilitation. For the first two months, he was confined to a wheelchair and unable to move one foot.

Kander said the initial focus was on regaining basic independence. “In the beginning, you don’t think about any kind of exercise beyond physical therapy,” he told The Jerusalem Report. “It’s not really on the agenda.

Sport entered his routine later, after fellow wounded soldiers from the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization encouraged him to try cycling. He now trains twice a day for an Olympic-distance triathlon. Kander stated that sport forms an essential part of mental recovery.

“I think sport is an inseparable part of mental health,” he said. ” Since the October 7, 2023 attacks, Israel’s rehabilitation system has absorbed tens of thousands of additional wounded individuals. The Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization, founded in 1949, is the only body legally responsible for representing soldiers injured in defense of the state.

The organization operates through regional districts and Beit Halochem centers that provide medical, psychological, social, career, and sports rehabilitation services. ZDVO chairman Edan Kleiman, a former Givati Brigade combat soldier wounded in Khan Yunis, said the influx has created a new operational reality.