With a pistol in his hand and 12 bullets, Deputy Superintendent Erez Tamsut, the sabotage officer of the Southern District of the police, sought contact with terrorists who infiltrated a safe settlement where his family lives, while at the same time conducting encounters with terrorists who harmed his subordinates.
After the massacre and fierce battles: Israel Hayom commentator Yoav Limor on a tour of the communities near the Gaza Strip
"The terrorists armed themselves with a lot of weapons, most of which they didn't even use because everything went smoothly for them," Erez recalls. "They booby-trapped roads, planned to barricade themselves with hostages disguised as Thais and even carried anti-aircraft missiles with them. The terrorists did not despise the means and even booby-trapped the bodies of their men so that whoever dealt with them would be harmed."
The sabotage unit of the Southern District includes dozens of sappers and fighters. In normal times, they deal with neutralizing weapons in the criminal field. On Saturday morning, they found themselves in a horror movie that surprised them like the rest of the Israeli people. A swarm of terrorists, some dressed in Thai clothes that they stripped and tied, infiltrated the settlements armed with everything they could find: IEDs, RPGs, weapons, ammunition, anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, mines and grenades.
Superintendent Erez Tamsot with one of his subordinates who was wounded in battle, photo: Police Spokesperson's Office
Superintendent Tamsot lives in Moshav Sde Nitzan near Mivtachim, where his parents and several members of his family live. His first encounter with the terrorists was at 6:45 a.m. at a safe junction. "I encounter terrorists with a gun and a Border Police officer with me. I understand that some of the terrorists are running into the moshav, murdering the CSC and four residents who fought with him."
"I feared for my family life. We fought a battle with the terrorists and caught three. During the shooting, I get calls from family members and get updates that one of my friends was murdered right under my parents' window," he recalls.
Police sappers at the scene of a fall in Ashkelon, Photo: AP
At the same time, his subordinate, Yigal Illouz, who was about to finish his shift at the Ofakim police station, charged at the terrorists and was killed. "We jumped there and came full circle when we eliminated the last terrorist in the cell that killed Yigal," Tamsot recalls.
In the midst of a battle, Tamsot had to carry out an event with another sapper of his, Yair Wisner, who was fighting for his home in Kerem Shalom, to which he recently moved with his family. Wisner fought the terrorists with the community's alert squad and was severely wounded by an AR missile. P.G. who was shot at his house.
Police saboteurs (archive), photo: Yoav Ari Dudkevich
At the same time as fighting the terrorists, Erez and the district sappers were busy neutralizing and collecting the large and varied weapons used by the terrorists. "We collected all the weapons they brought. They booby-trapped roads in order to barricade themselves with hostages.
There was at least one incident in Bari involving a booby-trapped terrorist with a grenade hidden underneath so that whoever was examining him would get hurt. IEDs were attached to the safe rooms, and large IEDs were placed along the roads. They had anti-tank anti-aircraft missiles with the intention of hitting aircraft descending on them and hitting armored forces with anti-tank missiles."
President Isaac Herzog on a tour of Kibbutz Be'eri, Photo: Haim Tzach - GPO
In recent days, between the funeral and the funeral, the district sappers have been dealing with many missile hits scenes, some of which pose a real danger. "The motivation is in the sky," says Tamsot, "the saboteurs endanger themselves and do not rest for a moment. We work out of a sense of mission and understanding that we are fighting for home. We went through a difficult event that never happened before, but we are going to win and change reality.
"You can't ignore the problems anymore, otherwise it explodes in your face," Tamsot says, "We don't have time to think about the loss, but in the end we lost dozens of friends and I guess at some point the token will fall."
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