Return to Israel – Kav inside Gaza

I returned from America on a Wednesday and my Mafkatz called me that night asking if I was ready to return. We made small talk and I then asked if, because it was a fast day the next day, I’d be able to come back Friday instead. Coming back meant first going to Bach Tzanchanim and getting my gun which I knew would take a while. He said he’d check and called me back a couple of hours later telling me I could come back Sunday instead. A nice little mini break to settle back into Israel after the month in America.

The “coming back to the army” procedure took all day Sunday. I caught public transportation and got to Nachal Oz around 10 PM. From there, I got an army transport a kilometer into Gaza where my Tzevet was now based. A Mutzav within.

I have to say, there isn’t much different about being in Gaza. At least where we were. You’re closer to the actual houses, the ones that are still standing, but since we didn’t go into the cities and villages themselves, what we were doing was very similar to the job we had in Nachal Oz: shmirot, siyurim, etc.

After two days inside Gaza, it was my Tzevets turn to leave for Shabbat. Tuesday afternoon we headed back to Bach Tzanchanim.  Our מ”פ continues to be over the top for no reason. The new Magad decided we would switch to a 16/5 schedule. 16 days in 5 days out.  Everyone else in the gdud leaves at 9 AM on Wednesday and comes back on Monday. We leave at 3 pm from Bach Tzanchanim instead.  Supposedly he even tried getting the Magad to switch it for everyone in the gdud and the Magad said no way; you can screw over your soldiers if you want but I’m not doing that to anyone else. Just our luck.  So instead of just going home in the morning, we did Shiftzurim for 8 hours. The night before though, we played soccer as a tzevet on the Bach. Really cool to see the base where we suffered for 7 months of training in a totally new light. No anxieties or pressure. Just walking around like we own the place.

Over the Yetziah I saw the Odyssey for a third time (first two in America) and went to a friend’s wedding. I spent shabbat in Modiin with my mom and brother who’d landed the day before and Motzash went to the new spiderman movie with some family.

On Sunday, one of my roomates had the idea to go on a hike so 5 of us went to EIN Pratt.

On the way back, we passed by Eretz Breishit, a cute tour I remember doing when I was here for my Bar Mitzvah wherein you ride camels, cook pitot, speak with Abraham Avinu and pretend you’re in the time of Tanach.

I had fond memories of the pitot there and I asked the guys if we could stop. I went to the office, told them I was a soldier who had good memories from my Bar Mitzvah of doing the tour, and asked if there was any way they had pitot for us. They told us there was a group making pitot right now and we could join them. We crashed a kids Bar Mitzvah trip (full circle) and were treated to pitot and dinner by them. Amazing.

On the return to base the following day, we went to Petach Tikva for a Yom Keif by a commanders grandparents house.

Back in Gaza, I was assigned to Karmel Gimmel which is responsible for patrols. The morning after we got back, during shaat gesher (the transition from night to day – 4:45-6:45 – when we all have to be awake) we were sent out on a walking patrol. We got into two lines, just like we practiced all those weeks in training, went out to the shetach of Gaza and shot a few rounds at an already destroyed house 2 kilometers away from any Gaza residents. It wasn’t within the city itself, and we didn’t feel any threat or danger, but it was the first time this really felt real.

Terrorists have popped up on these patrols before. Tzahal will catch terrorists approaching the bases all the time. That reality, mixed with the awareness that now we’re actually inside Gaza and in a combat formation we practiced during training gave the whole thing a sense of “finally”. We’re finally doing what we trained for, even if it’s only in a very minor way.

That night we went out for a special mission with the Shabak. Our job was mainly providing cover for them while they carried out what they needed to do, but it was still a kilometer away from the actual city. Still cool to do inter agency work. In the morning at 4:45, we drove out to another Mutzav to do chipui (cover) so got barely any sleep. We got back at 7 and at 9 were quickly woken up and told to get our equipment on and rush to the hummer. A terrorist walked past the safety zone and then went back in so they wanted us to provide cover while they checked everything was ok. The same thing happened again twice more the same day. You go to your room, think you’ll have some time to rest and then get rushed quickly to go to the hummer on full equipment to go check out the situation.

Even with all these mini operations, there’s a weird feeling that none of this is real. It has the feeling of one of the weeks of training. Until we see a terrorist or feel like we’re actually in danger, I expect that feeling to remain.

That night we left on a scheduled security mission: we were providing cover for trucks that were doing work. As soon as we left the base, we got word that the trucks were needed elsewhere and the job was cancelled. So we pivoted to another important army job whose name I don’t know so I’ll call it “enemy awareness”. Basically, we went out into the shetach near one of the cities, lined up, and shot lots of rounds of ammunition, the main purpose being to let our enemies know that we’re still here and haven’t become complacent. We fired into the middle of an abandoned field but the noise and racket it made was its purpose. We came back to base around midnight and had to clean our guns and refill our ammunition. We went to bed around 1 and were woken up around 3:30 to a voice on the loudspeaker announcing “geshem sagol” rockets fired in the air that could land on us. It was a false alarm thank God. We woke up again at 4:45 for the shaat gesher patrol. 

So barely any sleep the night before because of a job, no sleep during the day because of all the hakpatzot to various alarms, and no sleep during the night again. Just a normal schedule as a combat soldier.

Friday night we actually went out for the tank security job we had to do. An hour before we got there, someone was spotted in the area on the Gaza side. Instead of cancelling the tanks provided cover fire while the other vehicles worked. We did shifts of half an hour/hour and a half all night until 5 in the morning. Just sitting in the chair watching the tanks and during the time off, sitting in darkness with the other guys waiting for your turn to go up again. And you weren’t allowed to go to sleep during the time off. We got back, slept until noon, had a normal shabbat and left Saturday night to do the same thing.

I thought about my friends in America. Grabbing drinks, watching a basketball game together, playing XBOX, going out on dates. Thats what their Saturday nights look like. How did I get here? In the middle of Gaza. Lying in the dirt, giving cover to tanks 100 meters away from where Hamas militants are probably scouting us out.

We did another night, but at this point I’d gotten used to the schedule and knew what to expect. Plus, knowing that I’d be going home the next day for an extended vacation made it that much easier. Lioras getting married next week and as a lone soldier, when your parents are in the country, you get 8 days off to be with them. It worked out that 202 has a 10 day regila right after Lioras wedding, so I somehow fenagled a 3 week break. Amazing.

I got an army hummer escort out of Gaza on Monday afternoon and then a ride to Nachal Oz. I was trying to figure out buses and taxis to get home to Jerusalem as fast as I could when a car coming out of the Nachal Oz Yishuv stopped for me. The driver waved me quickly to come over for a tremp ( hitchhike). We spoke and I kept thanking her for the ride. She said it’s the least she could do for a soldier; were watching over her and her 4 kids in Nachal Oz and she felt honored to be able to repay the favor and give me a ride. A small example of why Israelis all feel like one big family. It’s nice to hear how the work we do is appreciated by Israelis. Nothing compares.