Imad Hirbawi, who risked his life to save dozens of students at the Ohr Chaya seminary when a fire broke out in their Jerusalem dorm in December 2024, received Israeli citizenship earlier this week at the Interior Ministry. Hirwabi, a 35-year-old Arab from East Jerusalem, had just arrived at the building that morning for his construction job on the upper floors, which were being renovated, when the fire broke out. “I heard an explosion,” Hirbawi told Yisrael Hayom. “I understood something happened. I went down to the lower floors and saw the building on fire. I ran down to help in any way I could. The fire was in the hallway and not in the rooms themselves. I opened the doors, I shouted ‘Get out, there’s a fire.'” “I think I saw about 40 girls go down,” he added. “At first I was able to see them and enter the rooms, but minutes later, I couldn’t see anything because of the smoke, which I also inhaled and made me feel sick.” Meanwhile, police officers and a volunteer policeman arrived at the scene and also acted with great resourcefulness, sawing through bars, opening escape routes, and using a ladder to lower the trapped girls out through the windows. Four YASAM police officers required medical treatment for smoke inhalation. Hirwabi, who was in the burning building for half an hour, also required emergency medical treatment for smoke inhalation. And his need for medical treatment continued afterward as he developed pneumonia from the smoke inhalation and severe pain in his back and shoulders from lifting the girls. But to his dismay, he was refused continued medical treatment because of a large debt he had accumulated at Meuchedet because he lacked health insurance due to his complex legal status of living in east Jerusalem under the “family reunification” law and lacking Israeli citizenship. Now, he is an Israeli citizen, and he will receive all the rights he is entitled to. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)