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An IDF Reservist Returns from Gaza

(Jerusalem Post) Michael Starr - I just returned to the Jerusalem Post after serving as an IDF reservist infantryman for 80 days on my second tour of duty in Gaza. There is a sense that Hamas is collapsing. It once fielded ambush cells that conducted frequent hit-and-run anti-tank missile attacks and ambushes from a wide network of bunkers and tunnels. Today, by and large, they do not operate at night or the light of day, clinging to the low visibility of dawn and dusk. It appears that their tunnel networks have been greatly compromised, as they have had to travel along roads and weave between buildings. Their mortar bombs fall far less accurately than they once did, and we did not encounter any enemy drone activity. The extent of the damage in Gaza hasn't been completely appreciated. Whole neighborhoods have been leveled during direct combat and the search and destruction of tunnels and booby traps. Many of the houses, apartments, and villas that we cleared had a decent and even opulent quality of life. All the homes we saw had televisions, computers, refrigerators, decorations, and stores of food similar to an Israeli suburb. The purpose of our operations was not geared toward the elimination of Gazan civilians. There were never orders to kill civilians wantonly, and there were debates on whether we had enough information to use deadly force and when it was legitimate to open fire. Civilians were allowed to pass by our positions along humanitarian corridors unmolested. Reservists want a resolution to the problems that led to Oct. 7; they don't want this war to become yet another round in an ongoing conflict. While we will continue to fight for Israel, we don't want to have to come back to Gaza and Lebanon in a few years' time.
2024-12-03 00:00:00
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