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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-777737
Wounded Israeli Tank Reservist Describes Fighting in Gaza
(Media Line-Jerusalem Post) Aaron Poris - Master Sgt. (res.) Eytan T. said that on Oct. 7, "I immediately sent a WhatsApp message to my commander and told him that no matter what, I'm coming to the reserves. I understood that it's a real war and that I need to be there to save my country, to save the people of the south. I have children. The eldest is 17, and he started his testing for the IDF. At midnight, when I went to the reserves, I told him, 'Dad's going to the war, so you don't need to.'" Two days after the ground invasion of Gaza began, "we started to fight Hamas. We entered the first line of homes in the city and started to fight the terrorists. We received some fire. We'd see Hamas shoot at other units or near us, and we'd destroy them." T. said Israel is winning every battle. The IDF is leagues ahead of the terrorist group in practice and capability. A week into the ground invasion, T. was injured when his tank unit came under heavy fire in northern Gaza. When he woke up in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, "I asked myself, 'What am I doing here? I need to be in Gaza, fighting alongside my friends.'...It took me time to understand that I was injured." "This war is a test for Israel," T. said. "If we don't destroy Hamas, then Hizbullah will know it. Iran will know it. And they'll see in that minute that Israel is weak, and they'll come to attack us. We know it from the north, from Syria....They plan. They're ready to attack us, and they want to see if we're strong enough to damage Hamas or not." Since the ground operation began, 104 soldiers have been killed in action and thousands have been injured. More than 300 soldiers were killed in the initial attacks on Oct. 7.