Troops called up for reserve duty in the fight against Hamas say they are posed to enter Gaza but have not been provided minimal protective gear from the military. They say they lack the basics: ceramic flak jackets, night vision goggles and protected jeeps, putting their lives in real danger should they be ordered to advance into the strip to fight the awaiting Hamas terrorists.
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After electric power had been cut, the troops said that they would not be able to operate without the proper night vision means and there was only one radio for communication at their disposal and that works only intermittently while phone batteries would run out without the ability to recharge them.
The reservists were deployed in a field position, around the clock, just meters from the border communities that were so viciously attacked last Saturday and where a massacre of hundreds took place. Terror squads still pop up periodically in the area, either having been hiding inside Israel or having successfully infiltrated the broken border.
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Troops apprehend Hamas terrorists in border area on Thursday
(Photo: Aris Messinis / AFP)
The troops say they can see Gaza ahead, at a distance of just a few minutes run and have only tired old APCs that have no protection from anti-tank fire, the same kind that killed seven IDF soldiers in a similar vehicle, in 2014, including Oron Shaul, whose remains have been held by Hamas since then.
Ynet asked the IDF to comment on the matter and was assured that appropriate supplies would be delivered to the force, but none had arrived. "We have no problem sleeping on the ground and eating rations. This is war and we are fighters," one member of the force said. "But everyone knows there are hostile forces on the ground around us, and rocket fire is constant and with the border exposed, we and our mission are in danger.
The military said it was attempting to help. The IDF's logistical arm opened a hotline but amid the flood of requests, calls struggle to get through. "There are gaps and we will fill them," the commander of logistics said.