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“What you see before your eyes is the destruction of Hamas infrastructure,” Colonel Oded Adani told us as we looked out over a row of destroyed buildings. “Every building that’s been hit is where we find terrorists. The fighting is tough, but we’re here and we’re going to destroy them. That’s our mission.”
Adani Deputy Commander of the Israel Defense Forces The 188th Armored Brigade is part of the 36th Division. The division’s current mission is to conquer the Shejaya area, which is one of the support centers for Hamas in the Gaza Strip and an important node in the mission to destroy the Hamas regime in Gaza. This week, I spent an afternoon with the fighters of the 36th Division in Shejaia as they continue their slow and methodical work of clearing the area of Islamist militants and their infrastructure. As we spoke to Adani, a battery of M109 howitzers next to us was firing at buildings about 200 meters away. We took shelter behind a destroyed house. Amid the roar of 155mm artillery fire, the commander described a hard, brutal battle against a well-prepared, well-resourced enemy hiding in burrows.This is not the first time
The 36th Division and the 188th Brigade have a long history in Israel’s wars. It was this division that stopped the Syrian advance on the Golan Heights in 1973. Now, 50 years later, they are fighting a very different war as Israel faces the same crisis.
I have a long history with these troops. Thirty years ago, I served as a young immigrant lone soldier in the 188th Brigade and the 36th Division in Hebron, Lebanon, and northern Gaza. Now we are back in Gaza, facing the same enemy. Shejaiya suffered great damageThe division’s troops and tanks are struggling to advance across a mostly destroyed landscape. Because Hamas’ military capabilities are so closely intertwined with its civilian infrastructure, it is difficult to distinguish the two. After going deep into Shejaiya, On the ruinsWe entered a maze of alleys and half-collapsed buildings, where infantry and armored units from the 36th Division were painstakingly clearing the area of Hamas. It was a delicate and dangerous task.“Most of Hamas’ infrastructure is schools, mosques, hospitals and various international institutions,” said Lt. Col. Tal Turjaman, commander of the 906th Infantry Battalion.
“We found ammunition boxes hidden under children’s beds, rocket launchers outside kindergartens. 95% of the buildings we entered had some kind of military material hidden in them – 95%! When you see this, you will understand that you are fighting a very low level enemy whose only goal is to attack you at all costs, including sacrificing their own people, firing from kindergartens and mosques.” Ten years ago, Turjman had fought with the Golani Reconnaissance Company during Operation Protective Edge in Shejaia. Now he was back, walking through the same ruined alleys, this time commanding a battalion of the 188th Battalion’s Infantry Commanders School.He described the process as one of measured pace, careful targeting, and then the concentrated use of massive force. “We are destroying the terrorist infrastructure, demolishing the buildings that threaten Nahal Oz, Alumim, and Kfar Aza. That way, when we leave here, no terrorist will be able to reach these communities and the civilians who live there.”
“We used air power, tanks, drones, whatever was available to us, to go out and conquer the ground. As a battalion commander, my job was to get the soldiers over the bodies and not get down to the enemy’s level.” So, as a Gaza veteran, was Turjaman surprised at the current ferocity of the enemy? The battalion commander responded with a genuine look of bewilderment at the indifference of Hamas fighters to the lives of their own civilians. “They are not here to defend the battlefield, nor are they here to maintain a normal framework of life after the battle is over. They are here to gain as much ground as possible against us, at any cost. The enemy does not believe that life is sacred. They believe that death is sacred.” Earlier this week, the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Brigade lost three soldiers in northern Gaza – Tuval Sasnani, Eitan Fisch and Yakir Shinkolevsky. One of our colleagues asked Adani, the deputy commander of the 188th Brigade, about the losses. I expected him to give a brief and dutiful answer, like a commander with a heavy responsibility in the field. Instead, Adani was silent for a few seconds. “It’s difficult,” he said. “We are in contact with the family…” Then he waved his hand and ended the interview. “Ultimately, we’re here to dispel the darkness,” Turjman told us at last. “Soon, we’ll mark it. Well, we’ll mark it here, too. Physically.” As night fell we left, with the distinctive squeal and roar of our armored tracks. The battle for Shejaia continued.
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