M16s, dead donkeys and bombs: Meet the elite IDF soldier fighting terror in the West Bank
With hundreds of operations behind him, 'S.' sheds light on what soldiers are currently facing in Gaza.
The biggest challenge for Israeli soldiers operating inside Gaza is to stay calm and control their anger, an Israeli sniper in the elite Duvdevan unit told Jewish News in an interview.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the soldier asked to be referred to as S. With hundreds of operations behind him in the counter-terror unit, including in the 2014 war in Gaza, S. sheds light on what the soldiers are currently facing in the Hamas-run enclave as they are on a manhunt for Hamas terrorists.
“They have to find out who is a Hamas terrorist, who’s a civilian, and who isn’t a member of Hamas but is still trying to harm you and warn them about where you are,” S. said.
With over two million civilians in Gaza, the soldiers are operating in one of the most difficult terrains in the world, with threats looming everywhere due to Hamas’ vast infrastructure in civilian areas, both above and underground.
84 Israeli soldiers have already been killed in combat in Gaza as the IDF’s ground invasion continues to spread across the entire Strip. “You have to protect yourself all the time. Sharpness is essential. It’s very different from the West Bank,” S. said.
Many of the soldiers have either lost someone close to them on October 7, or know someone who is held hostage by Hamas. And the anger over seeing Palestinians in Gaza celebrate Hamas’ massacre on October 7 is among the constant challenges facing soldiers in Gaza now.
“Sometimes when you are too driven, you can do something you didn’t mean to,” S. said.
Endless raids
Like some 300,000 Israelis, S. is currently in reserve duty, serving in his old elite unit in the West Bank, where the army is operating on a daily basis.
S. has already been in the West Bank two months and was recently told he should expect to stay at least another three months as the army raids against Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue.
S. is both serving as a sniper but also joins his unit when it’s raiding homes to arrest wanted Palestinians.
He is used to working under immense pressure and can easily recall his biggest achievement during his many years in Duvdevan; eliminating the terrorists who kidnapped three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank in 2014.
“It was a joint operation between Duvdevan and SWAT. We were in a gunfight with them for hours, just outside Hebron,” he said.
Now he is back in the West Bank, but can’t disclose his exact position. But his mission is clear: “We have to keep the area calm and arrest as many members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as possible,” he said.
“The last five people we arrested in overnight raids were members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and had weapons in their houses. M16’s and even bombs. Sometimes we enter their homes when they are in their beds so they didn’t resist because they are in shock,” S. added.
“Other times the house is still awake and we are met with resistance. One time we came to arrest someone and his grandmother was there. I tried to get her away from the scene, because she is not part of it. And as for the children, they just see the military taking away their dad. They don’t understand what’s going on. And it makes them hate the IDF and Jewish people.”
S. and his unit is used to operating all over the West Bank, meeting violent resistance from terrorists as well as civilian Palestinians.
“Sometimes they shoot at us as from the streets. One time someone threw a freezer on us from the rooftop and another time it was a dead donkey. They immediately share our location on telegram groups so the terrorists know where to attack us,” he said.
When Israel released some 150 Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas last week, S. and his unit detected a big change in the West Bank.
“It ignited the area. It drives them to commit more terror attacks against Israelis because they see Hamas will take care of them eventually. It’s hard to tell how many members they have because every day someone new joins. I couldn’t even guess how many they are if I had to,” he said.
When S. isn’t in reserve duty, he work in a start-up in the medical device industry in Israel. But it wasn’t always like that. Not long after the army, S. decided to become a nurse, something that made him witness the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a completely different angle.
“It was a big change for me, from being aggressive to taking care of people. I worked for a hospital that had an agreement with Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. They sent us many Palestinians who weren’t able to get the proper treatment in Gaza,”he said.
“But I also had to treat a lot of Palestinians who had just committed terror attacks in the West Bank and later shot by the IDF. It was hard for me, because I used to be the soldier who asked why we were treating terrorists. But when you’re a certified nurse you learn how to put aside your personal feelings and politics The values I was taught in the IDF are similar to the ones I have as a nurse; to be kind. And after I became I nurse I got even more empathy for other people.”
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