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Source: https://www.makorrishon.co.il/
The Unsung Heroes of Israel's Reservist Army
(Makor Rishon-Hebrew-18July2025) Hodaya Karish-Hazony - The troops of reserve paratrooper battalion 420 are serving in their fourth round of duty since Oct. 7, 2023. In one round they fought in Lebanon, in the other three in Gaza. The battalion commander, Lt.-Col. (res.) A., told visiting journalists in Gaza, "When you stand here with soldiers and show them [the Gaza town of] Beit Hanun, and then the lights of [Israeli towns like] Zikim, Ashkelon, Nativ-Ha'asara, Erez and Sderot, which is less than a kilometer away, you don't need to explain anything more." "Prior to every attack, we tell the soldiers that every house of a terrorist and every tunnel that we destroy here each night means that another family in Sderot will have quiet - not for just a day but for many years to come. This clarifies the importance of our being here on this side of the fence. The army is positioned between the civilians and the terrorists." He said the people in the battalion are reaching 400 days of reserve duty since Oct. 7 and they are still showing up in impressive numbers - 89%. "They want to come and they want to fight....Whoever is here has agreed to pay all the costs along the way, and these are not light. They put their civilian issues aside because we need to win this war and there is no one else to do this work." "It's not easy for our children, that's clear. After you've finally come home and begun to be a familiar presence, you disappear again. My daughter, 11, told me when I left for the current deployment, 'If you're going to free the hostages, you can take six months.'...There is not a single soldier here that doesn't have a family that makes this possible." "In the final analysis, there is nothing more astounding than a reservist battalion. The great diversity of ages, geographic origins, and professions. But when they arrive, they put on their protective vests and helmets and work together. They sleep together, eat together, and kill terrorists together."