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Israeli donates kidney to brother of man who saved his life in terror attack
Yonatan Rom gave his kidney to Reuven Tam in an altruistic move
On 7 March 2002 a Hamas terrorist infiltrated an Israeli pre-military academy in the Gaza Strip, killing five students and wounding 21. A teacher from the academy, Yonatan Rom, drove to the scene and the terrorist opened fire on his car. Almost immediately the local emergency response team commander, Eyal Tam, was on the scene and neutralised the terrorist, which ended the massacre.
This year, 24 years after his life was saved through Tam’s heroic efforts, Rom decided to become an altruistic kidney donor through Matnat Chaim, an Israeli non-profit dedicated to finding donors for kidney patients.
Rom was matched with a patient and shortly before the transplant, which was scheduled to take place at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital on 14 July, he met his recipient, Reuven Tam – Eyal Tam’s brother.
“Yonatan looked at Reuven and said, ‘Your brother saved my life 24 years ago, and I am saving yours today with my kidney,’” said Anat Briger, transplant coordinator at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital.
“Everyone who hears this story gets chills,” she continued. “We perform many kidney transplants, and Yonatan could have been matched with many other recipients. What are the chances? Out of all the donors and recipients, these two people were brought together, the recipient whose brother had once saved the donor’s life during a terrorist attack?”
According to Matnat Chaim, Israel leads the world in living kidney donations per capita, with more than 2,000 living kidney transplants having been carried out through the organisation.
In January 2026, Guinness World Records lifted its ban on submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories, accepting an Israeli record for the largest gathering of organ transplant donors ever, according to Israeli officials. The event brought together 965 living kidney donors at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center.
“Altruistic kidney donors make an extraordinary decision to save the life of someone they have never met,” said Dr Eviatar Nesher, director of the transplant department at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital, where about half of all kidney transplants performed in Israel take place.
“Among all the donors and all the patients waiting for a kidney, these were the two people who ended up being connected,” Nesher said. “The story of Reuven and Yonatan is exceptionally rare. It is an almost unbelievable full circle.”
“I want to thank Yonatan for giving me a new chance at life,” Reuven said in an emotional interview on Israeli Channel 12 after the operation. “We hope to remain friends for the rest of our lives.”
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