IDF Brig. Gen. Division 98 Commander Dan Goldfus said that his soldiers fought heroically, but had to reinvent their war tactics as matters developed in real time as they combated the invasion on Saturday.
Immediately upon entering Reim around 8:00 a.m. to push back Hamas, his intelligence and coordination officer was shot.
This immediately limited strategic communications.
From then on, he had to both fight and coordinate with other units and the air force in a multitasking fashion that is not supposed to be how a commander has to operate.
Goldfus said that he lost 30 dead and 150 wounded soldiers during those battles to retake the Gaza corridor.
He said his soldiers were brave and constantly risked their lives to eventually succeed, but that retaking the villages from Hamas took time partially because of the surprise and partially because of the high number of commanders who were killed.
Fallen soldiers honored in memoriam with new soldiers fighting in their place
While all killed IDF commanders were replaced, this still slowed things down and took a toll on IDF forces, especially in the early hours.
He said the scene of slaughter at the rave party near the Gaza border was beyond any horror imaginable.
Goldfus said that they aggressively pursued all Hamas infiltrators anywhere they found them, but did not follow them back into Gaza in hot pursuit since the initial mission goals were to secure the border, and only invade Gaza later.
In addition, he said the air force was extremely helpful after the initial hours in hitting Hamas invaders whenever it was called on.