The occasion was moving to tears. The armored fighters arrived at Palestine Square in Gaza, the place where abductees were humiliated just before they were released, the place that has become a symbol of evil, of Hamas and ISIS. The tanks stood up, and the candle was so lit by the company commander, Maj. (res.) Golan Krieger, who only a few weeks ago was seriously wounded, and insisted on returning to his father-in-law, to the battle in defense of Israel.
Fighters of the 7th Armored Brigade raiding a Hamas military post and training camp | IDF Spokesperson
On October 7, Krieger was at home in the settlement of Alei Zahav in Samaria when the first information about what had happened near Gaza began to arrive. Kerry Ger hurried to dispatch his soldiers, fighters from Armored Company A, to the hospital in Nachshonim in order to equip themselves for fighting, but there it turned out that there was no Mobi to the sea. The company commander approached the brigade commander, Col. Benny Aharon, who approved a particularly unusual request – to leave "on caterpillars", through the area, and later also on a central road with eight tanks, in order to save the village of Gaza.
War in the heart of Kfar Gaza
At our first meeting, a few days later, on the conference grounds, he recounted what had happened that day: "The scene was surreal. We reached the Kiryat Malachi area and drove parallel to Highway 6 and stopped for a refreshment at the Dor Alon station. In the Kiryat Gat area, we ran out of land, so we got on the road." 6 At midnight, exactly 12 hours after they left, the tanks entered the village of Gaza, where terrorists barricaded themselves and joined infantry and special units. "The plays along the way were very difficult. It was apocalyptic.
The destruction in the village of Gaza. Hell on Earth, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
"The infantry identified the terrorists, and our tanks fired a shell at the house of one of the families," Krieger said. "There were two terrorists with them, and in the house next to them we took out a woman who was nine months pregnant. In other homes, we took out elderly people, a family with three children, and more. We fought a battle between Gan HaSha'a Shu'a and the synagogue, we fought over the kibbutz's dining room. It was surreal."
After the battle, the reservists returned to the assembly grounds and began training intensively. They were among the first forces to break into Gaza and fought valiantly against the terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.
Our second meeting took place about a week and a half ago, in a forward gathering area in Zikim. This is a particularly exciting gathering area, since the second turtle camp next to it was the target of a very severe attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7. It was Krieger's first time wearing an armored jumpsuit since he had been seriously wounded in combat, and we made the call while waiting for a ride back to his company.
Soldiers preparing for ground maneuvers in staging areas in southern Israel, photo: Oren Cohen
"I was injured in the transition from one sector to another," he recalls. "We were the spearhead company and we advanced throughout the night. In the early morning we were ambushed. A squad of terrorists came out of a shaft and fired one anti-tank missile at me. I went inside and realized everyone was fine. I went up to the dome and started to locate the squad while I was shooting, and half a minute later another squad fired at me and hit the sight in front of me. I saw a big flash of light, and informed the crew that I had been hit inside. I dropped some orders in the company and went up in front of the battalion commander. I told him: 'Take command of my Flo Ga.' It wasn't until I heard him give orders that I went down to the back hallway."
"Even with one eye you can win"
Krieger was evacuated by helicopter to Beilinson Hospital, where he reported his wife that he had been injured. He went through a stretch in his eyes to remove most of the shrapnel. He didn't see anything, but in the days after the operation, vision returned in one of his eyes. "Now vision is back in my right eye, but I can't see in my left eye." When I ask him how he can fight, he laughs: "I fought for a month with a commander who was blind in one eye, who was wounded in Operation Protective Edge. My son jokes that I can be like Moshe Dayan now. Even with one eye you can win.
"The first thing I said to my mom after waking up from surgery was, 'When am I coming back?' As far as I'm concerned, as a commander, I have a responsibility to be with my fighters. No one signed a return to war form for me. The release form says I need a month to recuperate at home, but that's not an option."
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