"From the first moment I told my fighters that we are in a war, the difficult and complex is still ahead of us and we are going to win. We have casualties, but we are looking at the next mission, the next civilian being rescued, and the next terrorist being killed. The fighters are fighting here like lions. We went forward, we hit hard, us and the whole army were on edge. We will win, I have no doubt about that. I see the lightning in people's eyes," said Shaldag unit commander Lt. Col. B., five of whose fighters have been killed in battle since Saturday.
"I woke up on Saturday at 07:00 A.M. in Moshav Arbel. They told me there were heavy barrages from Gaza, so I immediately got in the car. On the way, I managed to connect the commanders' forum and tell them: A war has started, to bring them all. I managed to call the unit's combat director in the reserves and another reservist who would go to the Gaza Division, connect with the division officer and tell me what the mission was. On the way, a General Staff alert team jumped on an owl helicopter, talked to me from the road and flew.
IDF Forces in Bari / IDF Spokesperson
"On the way, I still asked the AGM to organize the next force and another helicopter. At 8:30 the first alert team lands in Bari, 12 fighters fighting for the kibbutz. I arrive at 9:30 in a helicopter on the way to Re'im, with the next crew. Before I fly, I grab my lieutenant and say bring everyone after us.
"In the next few hours, the entire unit arrives at the headquarters in Yas'ours, by car and on foot. Training Party and the last of the reservists. By 14:00 P.M., we are already in the south with 200 fighters," he says.
"At Kibbutz Be'eri, the team arrived at 8:30 A.M. and started encountering terrorists. Gets a lot of fire, wounded and killed. The kibbutz is full of terrorists, the team starts fighting," he describes. "Over the next five hours, the team fought there alone, killing 20 terrorists. You get to the last bullets, all the way to the last cartridges."
Lt. Col. B. himself landed in the Shag Gan of the Gaza Division in Re'im. "Already in Shag Gan we identified many terrorists and motorcycles. Connected to the division's tracker officer, you hear a lot of shooting. The base is quiet, there are no forces because everyone has left for the settlements. Identify the concentration of terrorists, seek contact, get encountered at short range, five casualties. The battle turns into a few minutes of a rescue battle because the force is damaged. We rescued the wounded, a seriously wounded man was evacuated by helicopter. After striving for contact, the significant group of terrorists who shoot inside bad guys is neutralized and no longer fires. Here they continue to cleanse the camp, in the first hours they join my force, which comes with Yas'ours, and then another company from the General Staff Patrol cleanse the camp. We took out the soldiers of the headquarters, some shot, some alive.
"I went back to the terrorists living with the larger force, we attacked them with helicopter missiles in the camp. Some go out, shoot them outside. Go inside and clear the camp. At 18:30 P.M., I went to the division commander and told him that the camp was free of terrorists. My lieutenant, who arrived on the scene, was ambushed, destroyed an ambush on the roads. We're losing another fighter there. Our forces joined forces in Bari and the village of Gaza.
"Since the beginning we have been fighting with the forces in Bari, the village of Gaza. Now they are chasing terrorists who remained in the open areas," said Lt. Col. B.
"I told the story from my perspective as a kingfisher commander. But the event here is much broader. The forces are here. The line forces weren't here because they went to sleep. They went out to fight in the communities. Those who did not go out to fight in the settlements simply fought the outposts that were attacked. I saw the commanders on the roadsides, running to the forces and communities," said Lt. Col. B'.
"My reservist went to Urim, and on the way an officer from the division called him and said that there were terrorists in Urim too. He came with a gun from home, killing terrorists with him. Then he takes a rifle from some policeman, grabs a platoon from a mech course, attaches a bus to them, and cleans up the camp, takes out the female headquarters soldiers who are locked in the rooms.
"We arrived quickly with helicopters, they didn't block our roads. We skipped all the checkpoints. The other forces were on the road – Sayeret Matkal, the 890th Battalion, which helped retrieve the body of our soldier. Everyone was here. Strive for touch. Fought. And also in localities. We are fighting here from house to house. I am with them in the fighting. I see the catastrophe in my eyes, I understand it. But people here are fighting, my fighters and the entire army – our lives are in the back, the lives of civilians are in front. There is no hesitation here and no waiting. When there are civilians, we run forward! All the time, from the first moment, from the moment I was woken up, to the moments when I have strength now that strives for touch as a sign of life. The whole army, it's not just my people. The line commanders and all the forces that arrived along the way."
So far, the Shaldag unit has suffered five fatalities, including a company commander and a crew commander. "The commander of the team was besieged in a house in Sderot, went out on a civilian with his brother's weapon, joined the savannah of Sayeret Matkal, fought with them and was killed with them," noted Lt. Col. B'. "Another veteran fighter, with a wife and three children, who no one would have said anything if he hadn't come, charged at unknown terrorists and fell, another officer fell in the storming of the Reim camp," he said. The unit had about 15 other wounded.
"I don't want to be dramatic, but from the first moment I told my fighters that we are in a war, the difficult and complex is still ahead of us and we are going to win," said Lt. Col. B'. "I saw here command soldiers on whom there are terrorists shooting at each other, all fighting. The review is ok, but they don't need to hear that they're wrong. They don't make the distinction if the criticism is directed at the general or at them.
"There's criticism, and that's okay. But be fair, let us go of the criticism and let us fight. It doesn't matter right now. The IDF is fighting here non-stop with a twinkle in its eyes and an understanding that civilians are being protected. And first of all, we enter into encounters here without hesitation. I see the people, they don't care about anything. They are running to rescue the civilians and eliminate the terrorists. We are the IDF. We are the State of Israel. There are no others now. I ask you, for the country and for the fighters, to be fair. The criticism is justified, but put it on whoever needs it, not now on the IDF going right or going left. The IDF is here and the IDF is fighting with all its might with a twinkle in its eyes."
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