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IDF Battalion Commander: "We've Spent 15 Years Preparing"

(Israel Hayom) Yoav Limor - Lt.-Col. Tomer Greenberg's Golani Brigade battalion held the Nahal Oz sector, was taken by surprise, but recovered and eliminated dozens of terrorists. "I was given a situation picture that's every battalion commander's nightmare - that there are terrorists in all the localities in my sector...that we had sustained many wounded and many killed." In Kfar Aza, soldiers detected a house where there were two babies whose parents had been killed. "We reached the place and burst in, and I saw the mother in the living room. She'd been shot. I reached the children's room and saw their father prostrate with a bullet in the head. I identified the father: he was a former Golani officer; once I'd had the occasion to work with him. And I saw two sweet babies, blue-eyed, maybe two years old, just sitting quietly in their crib." Greenberg's battalion kept fighting the next day. It eliminated dozens of terrorists, patched holes in the Gaza fence with Leopard APCs and tanks, and fired at every terrorist who tried to break through or return to Gaza. The battalion paid a painful price in blood: 41 dead and 91 wounded. Explaining the high casualty toll, Greenberg notes that his battalion was deployed over a large number of locations and under inferior conditions in each. Now the battalion is preparing feverishly for the next stage. Golani will be the spearhead, as always. Motivation is at its peak. "We've spent fifteen years preparing for [this battle]. Now let's see who's better prepared. It's clear to everyone what we're fighting for....It's not revenge. It's the twins; they didn't even cry when we took them away in the Leopard. I thought about my 3 1/2-year-old daughter. It's for them."
2023-10-19 00:00:00
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