Hebrew → English transcript

The War of Independence is indeed continuing at low intensity,

but the IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip are not resting for a moment.

Today we met the forces from the Alexandroni

Brigade who operate day and night in the northern part of the Strip.

The seventh of October taught all of us that defense is not done from the line of

the communities, defense is done forward.

And in order to provide optimal protection for the residents and civilians beyond

the fence, we need to be forward,

that is our role as an army and that is our mission.

After a drive of several minutes from the Nahal Oz outpost,

we arrived at an outpost that controls

a wide area in the northern part of the Strip. From here you can

see the extensive destruction

after almost two and a half years of war. The yellow line controlled

by the IDF constitutes more than half of the territory of the Strip.

The forces are operating in the area relatively freely, and continue to dismantle

Hamas infrastructure and eliminate terrorists who violate the cease- fire.

The mission is important,

and this is not something that looks like the security zone or anything like that.

This is a defensive battle mission in which we meet the enemy when he is not ready.

This morning too,

the Hamas terror organization tried to harm our soldiers.

Several terrorists came out

of a tunnel in eastern Rafah and opened fire at fighters from the 7th Brigade.

Our forces returned fire and eliminated the terrorists.

Our forces had no casualties in the incident. A similar incident took place

here last week. Two terrorists who fired bursts at the force, Of course…

unfortunately,

one of my company commanders was wounded.

Of course we eliminated the terrorists, we responded very forcefully,

very significantly.

During the visit to the outpost we met M.,

the chief rabbi of the Alexandroni Brigade,

a Haredi man who was among the founders of the Hashmonaim Brigade,

and his sons also serve in combat roles in the IDF.

There is… there is a shift within the Haredi public that understands that of course

the Torah students, those who sit and study Torah,

keep us in the world of the yeshivas and should stay there,

that God forbid we must not touch them,

but those who cannot sit and study, that we…

that they should come enlist and understand that the army does everything,

everything, everything,

everything in order to protect them, their way of life.

Since the beginning of the war, fighters of the Alexandroni

Brigade have done the highest number of reserve days compared to the

other reserve brigades. Despite the long

time away from home and the harm to civilian life, the motivation to serve is

not declining. So we are here on the ground, we see there is an amazing turnout.

Really, both the spirit of the brigade,

and also the belief in the mission itself and in its importance.

I think this is the key,

and of course the support at home,

that everyone is leaving behind family, children, businesses, not all of which

are in a good state either, and still people keep coming.

An hour’s drive from Gaza, life goes on almost as usual. Only when you arrive here,

you see the massive destruction and hear the sounds of battle,

you understand that the end of the war is still far away. And it will

come only after absolute victory.