Israeli man says Tesla EV saved his life from Hamas; Elon Musk reacts 

The head of an Israeli political party on Saturday shared a story of how a person escaped a fatal encounter after outpacing a gang of over a dozen armed Hamas terrorists in his Tesla Electric Vehicle (EV) in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip. 

Gilad Alper, Head of Israel’s Freedom Party, took to X to share the story of the survival of the local resident, known only as ‘C’, a member of the settlement’s emergency squad. He hails from Kibbutz Mefalsim. After seeing the post on X, Elon Musk wrote, “Glad he made it!”

Alper wrote that minutes after the Hamas forces invaded the settlements outside Gaza, C was called to an incident. “He rushed to his Tesla Model 3 Performance and started driving to the assembly point. His Apple Watch was stopped by shrapnel at 6:50. The terrorists recognised him from a distance of 10 yards. 

The terrorists, who were armed with Kalashnikovs and a heavy machine gun, saw the Tesla coming close to them. However, they didn’t know the fact that it was an electric vehicle and they started firing on the car, aiming for the engine and fuel tank, both of which did not exist in that EV.

“In addition to their Kalashnikovs, they had a machine gun that fired bullets of a larger calibre. They did not realize that it was an EV, so they shot at the front, hoping to hit the engine that was not there, and then at the back, trying to set the fuel tank on fire. Of course, there was no fuel tank. They shot my tires. I pressed the accelerator, and they started chasing me,” the post quoted “C” as saying.

“In this battle, it was a Toyota truck against one driver in a private car. But it was also a chase between a diesel truck with about 150 hp against an electric sedan with more than 530 hp and dual drive. About 15 well-armed terrorists faced a wounded, but determined driver, who found himself fighting for his life hundreds of meters from his home,” the post said.

C said the terrorists shot his car’s tires, but he said the acceleration of the Tesla was ‘amazing’ even in this situation, and the dual drive managed to keep him on the road. “I quickly got away from them, but I realized that I had to get to the hospital as soon as possible and I drove at a speed of 112 mph with flat tires. The tires started to crumble, but the dual drive balanced out the wheels, some of which were already on the rims. According to the app, I continued to drive at around 110 mph.”

Despite the fact that the car had over 100 gunshot holes, the front window remained fractured but did not disintegrate. The rescue staff who rushed to get him out and transfer him to treatment smashed the windows of the doors. 

“Bullets hit my legs and hand, got one in the skull and I was also hit by shrapnel. But my head works, and motivation kept me on the road and even now in the hospital. The car continued to drive, the battery didn’t heat up, but it took a lot of damage. There is no part that didn’t take a bullet. It still drives if you press the pedal, but it seems to me that I should already be thinking about my next Tesla,” the post on X read.

Meanwhile, his wife also got real-time updates on his location and his admission to the emergency room with the help of the Tesla app.

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