Like the rest of the country, Major 53 from the The 188th "Barak" (Lightning) Armored Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Salman Habeckah, a resident of the Western Galilee, received the news of the infiltration of terrorists in the South on Saturday morning at the start of the war.
"Some of my fighters were in an overlooking position in the southern Mount Hebron, and the rest were celebrating at home. We quickly moved from a routine position to emergency. I told everyone on their way to the Tze'elim base to hurry and get on a tank. The tanks were prepared for us with urgency. I flew to the base all the way from my home," Habeckah recounted.
Recounting the hours
"My tanks entered Be'eri, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, and Sderot. We completed the withdrawal of forces from Kerem Shalom and Sderot," Habeckah recalled.
He said that the scenes they saw along the way were harsh: burned cars, bodies lying on the side of the road, and relentless fire, including the fear of anti-tank missile ambushes.
"Our main mission was to save civilian lives," he explained. "When I fired the first missile, it sent a message to everyone: 'We've arrived! We're here!'
"Every infantry fighter feels much safer when there is a tank nearby. Only in hindsight did I realize I was firing a missile inside an Israeli settlement."
The tanks of Battalion 53 had to break through to the streets while cutting off the vehicles of the terrorists, but also civilian vehicles. Some of them were set on fire or punctured by the terrorists' gunfire. They took out wheels from them and used them to burn the houses - to suffocate the residents who barricaded themselves in shelters.
'Kill as many terrorists as possible'
"My goal was to kill as many terrorists as possible. Personally, I fired 12 missiles at the terrorists. My fighters teamed up with fighters in the various neighborhoods and cleared houses. They rescued the hostages from their homes and killed the terrorists," the soldier said. "In Sderot, my platoon commander fired at terrorists. They were cowardly sons of injustice who took advantage of the holiday. They murdered, slaughtered, and abducted elderly children and babies. It burned into my mind. My heroic fighters fired 250 missiles at the terrorists to save the lives of the civilians in the settlements."
Shortly after the Habeckah finished his testimony, a tank from Battalion 53 passed by as part of a tour around the base where the conversation took place.
"We don't take risks," explained one of the senior officers. "We are still busy clearing the area."
Suddenly, an explosion was heard in the neighboring kibbutz.
'Evil was here'
"We saw horrors. A family sitting in a car burned to death. From what we understood, the terrorists forced the family members to sit in the car, shot at them, and then set them on fire. The houses were destroyed in the fighting. The terrorists used an unimaginable amount of explosives and missiles against tanks. I have never seen such a large amount of combat equipment inside a community. It was much more than hatred; evil was here. The methods of murdering children disgusted me. I really hope that after we will finish the job, we will go on the offensive not to seek revenge but to eliminate this threat. To eliminate this evil."
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