In recent days, amid the legislation intended to formalize the continued exemption of Haredim from military service, IDF soldiers from units classified as ultra-Orthodox have been posting extensively on social media. They proudly showcase their service conditions, which allow them to maintain their lifestyle while contributing as troops in the most challenging sectors.
One of these units is the Hetz Haredi paratroopers company, now in its eighth month of continuous combat in the Gaza Strip. Over the past month, its soldiers have experienced three extraordinary incidents, unmatched by any other unit in the southern combat zone within such a short period.
In less than 36 hours, the company, part of the 202nd Battalion, lost its commander, Major Gal Shabbat, to terrorist gunfire; its soldiers discovered the bodies of four hostages in a tunnel through alertness and resourcefulness; and hours later, five of its soldiers were killed in a friendly fire incident when two tanks mistakenly fired shells at a building housing the unit.
The shaft hiding the bodies of hostages Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, Yitzhak Gelerenter, and Ron Benjamin, was found by a team led by Captain Roy Beit Yaakov among the intricate, booby-trapped alleys in the heart of the Jabalya refugee camp. Tragically, he was killed later that day in the tank accident along with four of his men: Staff Sergeant Gilad Arye Boim, 22, Staff Sergeant Betzlel David Shashuah, 21, Sergeant Daniel Chemu, 20, and Sergeant Ilan Cohen, 20. Captain Beit Yaakov was succeeded by Lieutenant Avichai Ben Ami, a 23-year-old Jerusalem native, who graduated from the Eli Yeshiva and spent two years in flight school before transferring to the Paratroopers.
"We’ve been on our feet and fighting since October 7, covering all sectors of the Gaza Strip, from Shijaiyah and Zeitoun in Gaza City to Khan Younis," recalled Ben Ami. "We launched an attack on the Jabaliya camp at dawn, encountering combat, unlike anything we had faced before: every house was booby-trapped, and we fought a well-organized enemy. By the end of three weeks, everything was dismantled thanks to our operation."
Ben Ami remembered the moments when his friend Beit Yaakov uncovered the location of the four hostages' bodies, adding, "We gained a lot of experience in combat, and Roy's team was skilled in locating evidence. He searched thoroughly inside a suspicious house, initially finding nothing. Then he noticed a rolled-up rug with something odd in the center. Carefully moving the rug, he revealed a cable leading to a ten-meter-deep shaft with suspicious signs and immediately called in the Yahalom and Shin Bet teams."
The Hetz Haredi paratroopers company didn't pause even after their successful mission of locating the hostages' bodies. The next morning, the soldiers launched an attack on a nearby Hamas target, during which their company commander, Gal Shabbat, was shot in the head by a terrorist. He succumbed to his injuries three days later.
Captain Roy Beit Yaakov was the first to spring into action, and together with the deputy company commander, Captain Shlomo, who immediately took over Gal’s role, they led the attack on the source of the gunfire and the evacuation of their commander. The new company commander, Captain Shlomo Cohen, 28, from Safed, is a Chabadnik who had a special bond with the secular Gal Shabbat.
"We closed in on the target, and the terrorist spotted Gal and his command team for a split second and fired a burst," Cohen recounted.
"We evacuated him quickly, and no one stopped. It didn't affect the company because they are strong. I took command of the ongoing attack and announced over the radio that I was now in charge. I rushed to the scene from another position where I had been as the deputy, not getting a chance to see Gal, who was quickly moved into an evacuation vehicle. From the start of the maneuver and before, he always emphasized how important and good it was for us to be inside Gaza, especially for the hostages, with the fighting spirit to complete the mission successfully. He always set a high standard for us, even when I was his sergeant when he was a team leader."
A few hours into his new role as company commander, Cohen faced the most challenging event: soldiers from the 82nd Armored Battalion, operating alongside the paratroopers, mistakenly identified a weapon barrel from a window as a terrorist threat due to a misjudgment of the sector boundaries. They immediately responded with tank shells into the building. The paratroopers inside initially thought it was anti-tank fire from terrorists.
Cohen quickly heard the deputy battalion commander on the radio shouting to cease fire, realizing it was friendly fire. "I heard the two explosions. Some soldiers managed to escape the building before the next shell hit, thereby saving themselves. After evacuating the casualties, each commander gathered their team for a talk, and we decided to keep fighting despite what we had been through that day. The very next day, we received a new attack mission. I don't think any military unit has experienced such a sequence of events in such a short time, but we emerged stronger."
The Paratroopers Brigade promptly deployed a team of mental health officers to support the soldiers while they continued their missions, helping to bolster their resilience. Cohen stated, "I told the battalion commander that we have a strong company that will keep moving forward and that he could rely on us. The soldiers can function even without their commanders."
Now, the troops from the Haredi company are preparing for their next mission in Gaza, against the backdrop of the Supreme Court unanimously ruling on Tuesday that the government must draft Haredi men to military service. In the ruling, the court says there can be no state funding for Yeshiva students who do not enlist.
Petitioners asked the court to rule against the government's efforts to solidify an exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox men, while the IDF was fighting a war and suffering from a shortage of troops to meet the challenges it is facing.
"Those who come to Hetz Haredi paratroopers company are yeshiva students or those who finished yeshiva because it didn’t work out for them," said Company Commander Shlomo Cohen. "We can hold Torah study sessions even in Gaza, and we have soldiers who received study materials to take into the Gaza Strip and found time for it. Of course, we also held prayer services. It's not far-fetched; we even have supportive rabbis. Whoever wants to enlist can enlist, and whoever wants to study Torah can study Torah."
Lieutenant Avichai Ben Ami added, "We have guys from backgrounds that don't typically lead to military or combat service. Some come from Haredi backgrounds and some pay the price of family estrangement because of the war. The Haredi public has undergone a change during this war. We also have many lone soldiers who came from the U.S. and France, some from religious or Haredi backgrounds."
"Before each entry into Gaza, we distribute booklets and radios for Torah study and make sure to observe the Sabbath even in enemy territory," he added. "The true sanctification of God is to fight and complete the operational missions. It's absolutely possible to combine the Haredi lifestyle with combat service. Gal, a secular commander, was always curious about the religion and ensured we maintained it here even more than we, as religious or Haredi soldiers, did."