Young Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley
A little over two weeks ago, young women were scattered around the world and enjoyed the beach lifestyle.
Having completed their military service, the friends began a rite of passage for many young Israelis: post-military camping.
Anat (not her real name) was in Bali, Indonesia , hoping that travel and free time would help her decide what to do with her life. Her friend Nurit (not her real name) was in Perth, Australia.
Their carefree days ended on October 7 as they watched reports of massacres in their homeland after Hamas militants stormed the border and killed 1,400 people.
Less than 17 days later, the couple was back in the army and reunited. along with many of their former comrades, who have abandoned beachwear and donned olive-colored combat uniforms.
They are among the 350,000 reservists called up by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for the impending invasion of the Gaza Strip. .
'Now we are back in shape'
“Two weeks ago we traveled, now we are back in shape,” Nurit said. «This is crazy.»
When reports of the Oct. 7 attacks emerged, flights to Israel quickly filled with returning reservists, many of them returning from vacations abroad, the women said. Israel sent charter flights to bring people home.
“My flight was full. Everyone comes together,” Nurit said. “Now we weren’t even allowed to pay in the store because we were in uniform; I couldn’t believe it,” she said, pointing to the store where she had just bought snacks.
Israel's small population of only about nine million meant that almost everyone knew someone had died or gone missing in the attacks, says Anat, whose mother is British and moved to Israel 30 years ago from Bolton after worked as a volunteer on a kibbutz.
Israeli soldiers drive military vehicles near the southern city of Sderot. Photo: THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images
Both friends said they knew people who attended the rave music festival that witnessed one of the worst attacks. About 260 people were killed when gunmen stormed the desert festival site at dawn on October 7.
Both women are now near the site of the massacre, awaiting with their comrades the impending ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
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Israel promised to destroy Hamas after the attacks. Since then, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to heavy artillery and air attacks. More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed, including about 2,000 children and about 1,100 women, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Rockets fall
Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip meanwhile continue to fall into southern Israel. .
Residents regularly receive missile warnings on their cell phones, urging them to quickly get to shelter.
Israeli military power is concentrated along the border before any offensive. At one of the objects one could see dozens of Israeli tanks lined up in a row.
At another site, self-propelled artillery pieces were scattered across the field, their barrels covered by earthworks and pointed towards the sector.
It remains unclear when Israel will launch its offensive, but the IDF said it had carried out an offensive on Monday. preparations carried out «deep» night raids in the Gaza Strip.
The incursions were used to gather intelligence and improve military readiness, the military said.
This was stated by IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. «These raids are raids that take out terrorist squads as they prepare for the next phase of the war.»
The scars left by the Oct. 7 attacks are still visible near the border. A sedan car abandoned on the side of the road was riddled with bullet holes, from where the attackers opened fire.
The family in the car fled into a roadside concrete shelter. Inside the shelter, traces of shrapnel showed that the attackers had thrown a grenade to kill the hiding family.
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