The Heroic Role of Women in the War

January 24, 2024

by: Kate Norman

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 | When thousands of Hamas terrorists poured into Israel on October 7 to murder, kidnap and rape, the Jewish state had to respond with all hands on deck. From that day until now, women have played an important role in Israel’s response to the October massacre.

An off-duty paramedic in December saved a crew member in a tank convoy who was injured in an attack by an anti-tank missile.

Yuval Hizkiya was riding a tank convoy on December 13 to exit Gaza and attend the funeral of her cousin who had died the in Gaza the day before, the Times of Israel reported. The convoy came under fire from terrorists armed with anti-tank missiles.

The tank’s gunner, Elisha Loewenstern was killed. The loader, Shachar Shiloni, and the tank commander, Cpt. Tom Tzafrir, were both injured.

The loader Shiloni lost his leg in the attack, and Hizkiya sprang into action to tend to his wounds and keep him conscious. She dragged him behind a wall, the Times of Israel reported, and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding while at the same time shooting periodically to fend off terrorists on the other side of the wall.

Hizkiya told Channel 12 news that she emptied her magazines firing at the oncoming terrorists.

The rescue squad still hadn’t arrived, so Hizkiya told the tank commander Tzafrir to keep Shiloni awake while she went to see what was holding up the rescue, Shiloni told Channel 12.

Forty minutes later, a rescue helicopter arrived and evacuated Hizkiya and Shiloni, though the doctor on board was tentative about whether Shiloni could survive the blood loss.

But three days later, he regained consciousness and immediately underwent rehabilitation. Any time Hizkiya gets leave from Gaza, she visits her patient, the Times of Israel reported.

Women were swept up into the war from the beginning.

When terrorists stormed into Israel on the morning of October 7 to attack 20 southern Israeli communities, Israel’s security forces were caught off guard.

An all-female company of tank operators made history as the first female armored crew in Israel to take part in battle. They were woken up at 6:30 that morning at their base near the Egyptian border and ordered to swing into action.

Jumping in their tanks and armored Humvee, the group took to the civilian highway and sped north to defend the communities under attack.

The women encountered terrorists along the way and engaged them, protecting the border and preventing more terrorists from entering Israel.

One of the unit’s officers, identified as “Michal” told Channel 12: “They told me there were terrorists in all the trees around me, so we just started firing. We started firing bunker busters at the terrorists that were up close, and then mortar shells at those further away.”

She added that she could see the terrorists fall, confirming their hits.

They quickly had to master the weapons system on the Humvee they were driving, another commander, Hila, told Channel 12, even though they had received no training on it. “Within 10 minutes,” she said, “we’d all become experts: how to run it, how to fire, how to slam the brakes.”

They left one tank at Kibbutz Holit and traveled with another to Kibbutz Sufa to defend them from the onslaught.

Going headfirst into battle, their unit fought terrorists for some 17 hours that day, according to their commander, Col. Shemer Raviv.

“I feel like it’s exactly what we trained for,” a commander called Tamar told Channel 12. “We just did what our brains and our hands knew how to do.”

Tamar added: “You keep saying ‘heroines’ and ‘historic’…I don’t feel like a hero. I feel like I’m a soldier that was given a job, and I did my job. I think anyone would have done that.”

In another story of heroism on that dark day in October, 22-year-old Eden Nimri, the commander of an all-female “Sky Riders” drone unit, fended off Hamas terrorists for hours—in her pajamas.

When Hamas terrorists stormed their military outpost near Kibbutz Nahal Oz—less than a mile from Gaza—Nimri and her team rushed to defend a bomb shelter where other unarmed female soldiers were taking shelter.

Nimri fell in battle by drawing the fire of the Hamas squad, allowing the other soldiers to escape.

The morning of October 7, a Hamas naval fleet stormed the beach of Bahad 4, which shares a maritime border with Gaza, and is a training base for new military recruits.

The few seasoned officers on base—including three women—fended off the terrorists for hours, maintaining complete control of the base and saving more than 90 recruits, Israel21c reported.

The events of October 7 darkened Israel, bringing death, loss and sorrow. But countless heroes—both men and women—have stood up to defend the Jewish state from her enemies.

Posted on January 24, 2024

Source: (Bridges for Peace, January 24, 2024)

Photo Credit: Matanya/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia