Svetlana Braya, 57, from Holon, was an active, constantly learning woman who spent her free time making creative dolls, sugar flowers, and even studying nail care. Born in Ukraine, she always took air raid warnings seriously and went to a public shelter across the street because her home had no protected room. “Iran is not a joke, I’m from Ukraine and I know what a ballistic missile is,” she said.
Her life changed during Operation “Roar of the Lion,” when, while heading to the shelter with her granddaughter, a car struck her as they stepped into the street. The child was thrown aside but was barely hurt, while Braya suffered severe injuries, including five broken ribs and fractures in her knee, pelvis, and left arm. Her daughter, Lika Braya, said she learned what happened in a video call during an alert: her sister called “in hysteria,” showed their mother lying on the sidewalk, and said, “Come here, Mom was hit by a car.”
After four days in hospital, Braya was sent home, but the missile fire continued and she could not reach the shelter because she was in a wheelchair. With no other option, she slept in the public shelter for three days, in pain and sedated, while family members arranged a bed and took turns staying with her. A city employee who came to inspect the shelter’s cleanliness saw her condition, asked how she could stay there, and contacted the Purple Vest project of Nitzachon Yisrael, which helps evacuate and support people with disabilities and older adults during emergencies.
The next day a volunteer named Daria took Braya to an accessible hotel in Bat Yam, and later the project arranged an accessible apartment with a safe room in Tel Aviv, where she stayed until the fighting ended. Braya said she was treated “like family” and would never forget the help. Lika said that without Purple Vest, her mother would have remained in the shelter. Holon later partnered with Nitzachon Yisrael, and after a missile strike in the city during Operation “With All That,” officials used lessons from the war to train about 300 municipal workers on emergency accessibility.
Michal Rimon, CEO of Nitzachon Yisrael, said the initiative was first implemented abroad, mainly in Ukraine, and was accelerated in Israel after October 7. She said nearly 20 percent of Israelis are people with disabilities or elderly residents, many of whom need accessible emergency solutions even without formal recognition from welfare agencies. Since the war began, the Purple Vest hotline has received almost 6,000 inquiries, helped about 12,000 people, assisted in evacuating 530 families, and funded about 6,000 hotel nights through donations.
