There is a mobility scooter in the yard of one of the houses in a neighborhood in Gaza. It arrived here on October 7, following the looting carried out by the residents of Gaza in the kibbutzim. "Load her on the APC," one of the commanders says. "We'll return it home."
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The scooter probably belongs to one of the residents of Nachal Oz. The terrorists who raided the kibbutz and the adjacent military position came from this part of Gaza, and after them came the masses who joined the journey of destruction and looting. None of the looters are here anymore: The neighborhood is empty of people, and only IDF forces are here, as part of the efforts being led by the 36th Armored Division, which is responsible for bisecting the strip between Gaza City and the southern Gaza Strip.
On Friday, I joined the IDF soldiers operating in the area. Close to the border fence (or what's left of it), we met Colonel Yisrael Friedler, the brigade commander.
After a short briefing, we entered the APC, and at precisely 11:45 we began traveling westwards. Colonel Friedler asked us to put our seatbelts on, so if an explosive was set off, we wouldn't be hurled out of our seats. When we crossed the border, the Windbreaker system was operated: The main threat against the troops here is anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, booby-trapped drones, and of course snipers.
Video: Yoav Limor visits the troops in Gaza / Credit: Yoav Limor
Before entering, the forces identified four bodies on the route we were supposed to be traveling. Next to two of them were RPGs, so these were certainly the bodies of terrorists. But there was doubt regarding the other two, and the troops decided to bring them into Israel to check if they were the bodies of Israelis. "We hope to bring some closure to some more families," says Lieutenant Colonel Gilad Pasternak, the deputy brigade commander.
Every operation like this is especially complicated. They're required to bring a bomb disposal team and representatives of the Military Rabbinate, and then to coordinate the transfer of the bodies when they've already become skeletons. During the first few days of the war, the IDF identified dozens of bodies on the Gazan side and brought them to Israel. Most of them were terrorists, but among them were also bodies of kidnapped Israelis, who were identified and brought for burial. This is also one of the soldiers' tasks now: to try to identify hostages or clues that will allow the troops to reach them.
The main mission is of course to damage Hamas, or, like everyone participating in the operation says, to destroy them. This sounds far simpler than how it looks from within Gaza. "All of the "heroes" of October 7th are now big cowards," says Colonel Friedler. "They're hiding in their tunnels, and they're afraid to come out and fight."
This requires the IDF to bite into Palestinian territory to chafe against the enemy. Colonel Friedler's troops have taken control of a chunk of territory in Gaza, a few kilometers deep into Palestinian territory, and are working from there to harm the terrorists and to identify tunnel shafts. Their role is to expose the openings and then call the Combat Engineering Corps special forces to take care of them. In parallel, they're responsible for maintaining the logistics routes that allow the entry and exit of Israeli forces, evacuating the wounded, and allowing a line of communication to all the division's forces.
During the last few days, there have been several deaths and injuries in the division. A few minutes after we entered Gaza, Friedler received a report on the two-way radio that "two dirties" had been seen close to one of the houses belonging to the wealthier residents of the neighborhood. A tank fired a shell in their direction and probably eliminated them. "You probably think that we're directing this for you," the brigade commander laughs. "It worked out well for you. It was right on our route." Afterwards, when we reached the heart of the neighborhood, we saw the house, and next to it a workshop with thick smoke.
The APC stops next to one of the houses, and we get out quickly, close to the wall, to the first building. "The main threat here is sniping from the west, so pay attention," the brigade commander says. At the entrance to the house are two soldiers, who ask not to be filmed. "My mum doesn't know that I'm here," one of them explains.
Their morale is high. When we enter the house, they begin to sing: "We won't return home until the mission is complete." "This is how soldiers are," Friedler explains. I wonder how long he will manage to maintain this level of motivation and he replies, as expected, that it will be for as long as is necessary.
For all the soldiers here, this is their first war. For a large portion, this is their first experience of conflict. "During the first encounters there's a bit of shock, but afterward they got it together," says the brigade commander. Before entering Gaza, they were able to train intensively. Now it's the time for results. Colonel Friedler is convinced that the results will come, big time. If the IDF is given the time it needs, it will deliver the goods. "This is the most justifiable war in the world, and we mustn't stop until we win."
Friedler, father of six, was a platoon leader during Defensive Shield, a company leader during the Second Lebanon War, a battalion commander during Protective Edge, and now a division commander. Last week I spoke with his mother, Ruti. She has 12 children, seven of whom are now on reserve duty – all of them in combat roles. "She is the true fighter at home," he says.
I asked the soldiers if they missed home. They all answered that they were focused on the mission. For some of them, the disconnect wasn't easy. Lieutenant Colonel Pasternak had left at home his wife, Hila, who is a doctor, with their two-year-old son and their five-week-old baby. "For most of her life I haven't seen her," he says. The last time he visited Gaza, during Protective Edge, he was a company commander in the Nachal Brigade and was injured. "I was shot in the leg, and I was injured in my eyes," he says.
He's not the only one to leave toddlers at home. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ran Canaan, had a son just before the invasion of Gaza. He managed to attend the birth, but he attended his son's bris via an operational telephone from within Gaza. They called the son Dor [Generation], or as he puts it: "A new generation, because the light needs to overcome the darkness. This cruel enemy needs to be removed from the world. We're here to free the captives, to defeat Hamas, and return the security to the residents of the State of Israel."
Colonel Canaan dashed to Gaza on that terrible Shabbat. "We reached Kissufim at around eight in the morning," he says. "We freed a hostage, a French woman, who was in a car, and we killed quite a few terrorists." His soldiers were injured, and he got a bullet in the back. After a few days in hospital, he recovered and returned to the war. "There was no doubt at all," he says.
Peak motivation for soldiers
He says the soldiers' motivation is at its peak. Everyone wants to fight. Considering their age and role, this is natural, but it's also because of what happened: The shock left by the Oct. 7 attack clarified for everyone that they must fight and win. Therefore, the IDF has also taken off its gloves. "We went in hard," says the brigade commander.
Before the ground invasion, there was an intensive attack by the air force, the remains of which can be seen everywhere: destroyed houses, craters left by air raids, and nothing left of the roads. There's sand all around, which partly turns to powder that floats in the air and enters the lungs. And still, it's preferable to the mud that will be here in winter. Therefore, the IDF is trying to speed up the operation, both because of the fear that international pressure will bring it to a close, and to take advantage of the relatively kind weather, even if on Friday afternoon it was hot and damp, and at night it was already chilly.
The forces are staying in houses and protected spaces and leave them for operations and searches. They eat canned food – tuna, corn, beans – a long way from the fantastic food that was donated to them from around the country while they were waiting for the invasion. Beside the empty boxes is a kitten, who is fed the leftovers. "He's been here since we arrived. He's probably never eaten this well," says one of the soldiers, laughing.
We head to another building. We pass next to a machine gunner holding a position looking out over the area, crossing what was once a road and today is a dirt road full of potholes. On its edge is the "bear," a D9 bulldozer, which is looking for the shaft of a tunnel that is supposed to be in the vicinity, and we enter another building.
A quick run up the stairs to the second floor, whose entrance is covered with a thick blanket, and from here we have an excellent view. In the middle of the room is a spacious armchair. I receive permission to sit, and then I ask to photograph. A homage to the famous picture of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Sinwar was then pictured on an armchair between the ruins, to defiantly show that he had won. Now it's Israel that is determined to win: Colonel Friedler plants an Israeli flag that he brought with him on the top of the building and asks the commanders to be alert. "We're only at the beginning," he clarifies.
From the inside, it seems that the IDF knows what it's doing, or what it wants to do. There is understandable concern for the soldiers: They are facing a real enemy, and real threats. But neither they nor we have a choice: Whoever doesn't defeat Hamas today will receive them on steroids tomorrow.
Revenge of the scooter
And there's of course also the ethical issue, and the revenge. The scooter that was thrown in the yard symbolizes it well. The IDF is working now to defeat Hamas and to free the Gaza Strip from its rule, but it's also working to close accounts and to ensure that it never happens again – not in this sector or anywhere else.
On the way out, Colonel G wonders what Nasrallah will say in his speech. Everyone hopes that he won't say much, so Hezbollah won't deflect the IDF from its efforts in Gaza. After a few minutes we finish our journey at the fence, and after we remove the helmet and the protective vest Colonel Friedler asks us to take care of ourselves. "Take care of yourselves, and us," I respond, and he replied: "That's exactly what we're doing. Back home, tell them that we're winning."
