One of the most dangerous and critical roles on the first day of the war was that of the IDF lookouts posted right on the Gaza border.
Large numbers of them were killed by motorized hang gliders, drones, and Hamas terrorists’ on foot who swarmed their posts before they could be saved by distant larger IDF forces.
Corp. Maya Atilas of the Border Defense Unit of the Gaza Division told The Jerusalem Post her terrifying story in which she was meters away from being killed, heard screams from nearby lookout posts which were destroyed, but somehow got the courage to push on and give IDF commanders critical real-time intelligence on the Hamas invaders.
Atilas said, “On shabbat, we were performing our rotating lookout guard duty starting at 5:00 a.m. There was the regular chatting about what food we wanted to eat and about our friends. Suddenly, at 6:30 a.m., the chaos started.”
“I have seen lots of chaos from our lookout position, but these were bizarre scenes and I immediately had a feeling in my guy that something was very wrong,” she said.
Determined to defend
The corporal continued, “We saw around the fence and around the border which I was watching, terrorists everywhere and armed with every weapon. We could not have imagined this.”
Next, she said, “We started to hear crying and yelling out ‘terrorists!’ and panic from our next door lookout positions. So many situations were happening in parallel. At first you cannot even absorb it and you are just in a panic.”
“I trembled and said to myself ‘someone wake me up! This has never happened in the history of the State!’ But then I started to understand: this is happening. I am in a war,” she explained with a look of horror.
According to Atilas, she decided, “Then there was nothing else to do, I am here, it’s my duty and my responsibility…Now I need to guard the combat fighters and need to try to function.
But the situation got worse and “shortly after, I saw terrorists enter our internal base area next to the lookout post we were inside of, and they came right up to our door. It was super scary because I could see the terrorists up close.”
“I thought to myself, maybe I should just leave. I’m a woman. What do I need with being surrounded by terrorists?" she exclaimed.
But with a look of determination, she said, “Then I reminded myself again. No. I’m here. I will do this with all of my power and will fight. They need me and I need to achieve my mission despite all the difficulties.”
“Then the terrorists tried to break into my lookout position.” She said she could not explain why they did not succeed and called it “a miracle,” since three of four lookout positions in the area were raided or bombed by Hamas.
Eventually, rallying IDF combat soldiers retook the IDF base area where they were stationed, but she said their situation was especially hairy for the first three hours until 9:30 a.m., and that they were not really safe for an agonizing 10 hours.
Part of the problem was that due to the Simchat Torah holiday weekend, most of the combat fighters were not present when Hamas' attack started.
But also generally she, and many experts have agreed, that even at “full strength”, the border was vastly undermanned.
Mid-battle, she said she and her other three lookout team members were constantly calling out new Hamas invaders to their commanders through IDF communications.
Those direct and even senior commanders were also calling into them to try to better cut through the confusion of the moment and better understand the scale of the invasion.
Despite the dangers “we did what they taught us to do,” calling out sometimes seven invaders at a time and sometimes 30 invaders at a time.
Afterwards, she felt the IDF would have easily let her switch to a lower risk position, but she insisted on staying, explaining, “It was personal for me that it was important to do, because also maybe someone say women would not be able to continue, but I couldn’t quit. No matter how hard it was to go back to the lookout post, I will continue.”
“I understand the importance. The combat fighters need us so much. The most important message for all young women who are afraid of taking this job in the IDF: the mission is so important. It is the greatest pride you can have,” she said.
Next, Maya will need to decide whether to remain in her current role or take a command position in a different capacity.
Regardless of what she decides, she said that after surviving and overcoming her fears, that she believed she would be much stronger and more able to overcome other challenges for the rest of her life.
The Jerusalem Post and OneFamily are working together to help support the victims of the Hamas massacre and the soldiers of Israel who have been drafted to ensure that it never happens again.