IDF co-ed battalion makes history by sending women troops to Gaza

If someone had told my younger self, back in the 1990s, that one day courageous female combat IDF soldiers would be fighting, shoulder to shoulder, alongside their fellow male soldiers on the battlefield, she probably would have chuckled and said, you’re living in a fantasy world. 

There have been a number of breakthroughs for women serving in the IDF over the years: Alice Miller fought her way to Israel’s Supreme Court with her request to be allowed to apply for combat flight training; Sari Rahat was the first female F-16 navigator; Ora Peled Nakash became the first woman to complete the Israeli Navy’s officers training course; and women fought hard for authorization to join the Border Police.

And yet, who ever thought that female combat soldiers would fight alongside men, under fire and inside enemy territory? If someone were to tell me back then that the day would come when I would enter the Gaza Strip, in wartime, together with a unit of female and male combat reservists, I would not have believed it was possible. 

Yet, here in 2023 Israel, I was lucky enough to watch firsthand, as female combat soldiers from the IDF co-ed infantry Bardelas (Cheetah) Battalion broke through another glass ceiling that most of the women of my generation didn’t even know was something we could dream about.

Anyone who is opposed to the idea of integrating women into the IDF, and particularly its combat units, might as well stop reading right here, since that debate is not going to be discussed in this article. 

Women combat soldiers fighting in the Israel-Hamas war

That argument was put to bed on October 7, when the female tank operators and female border patrol officers immediately rushed to protect Israeli communities in the Gaza Envelope Region. And when female IDF doctors and paramedics accompanied Israeli combat forces into the battlefield. And when female soldiers and commanders from Bardelas entered Gaza last week, together with the rest of the soldiers in their unit, for the first time.

“Our mission is to destroy the enemy,” Company Commander Captain Yuval explained, as we made our way toward the Gazan border. She continued, in her curt, military-style jargon, “There’s no forecast for when the war will end; we’ll do whatever it takes.” A former soccer player who dreamed of a professional career playing soccer in the US, the 26-year-old commander said that “two years and eight months of IDF service turned into eight years.

“When I enlisted in the IDF, my family members all made bets of how long I would last in a combat position,” she said. “When I was sent into Gaza, they were all in shock.” 

She also proudly let her friends from her tactical command training course know that she was being sent into Gaza to fight. “The joke in our course, in which there were 53 male officers and 6 female officers, was that the female combat soldiers don’t do anything. But I would always tell them that the girls have much more experience in shooting than they do, and that the day will come when I’ll be in charge of military maneuvers in Lebanon and Gaza. And, it’s true – I went into Gaza before many of the male soldiers.”

THE SURROUNDINGS we see as we roll into Gaza are full of destruction and devastation. Not one building seems to have been left standing, following the ferocious fighting that took place there before the Bardelas soldiers arrived. The entire area will need to be rebuilt once the war is over, but for now, Yuval is focused solely on the mission that she leapt into on the morning of that Black Saturday. 

“From our point of view, we’re in enemy territory,” she said. “Every structure we pass poses a threat. Terrorists could be hiding in them or in tunnels that we cannot see. Our mission is to ensure that no terrorist comes out of any of these places alive. There is no alternate option.”

Both the male and female Bardelas Battalion soldiers under Yuval’s command are currently situated in two sectors, and she splits her time between them. One is located on the Egyptian border, and the other is operating within the Gaza Strip, north of Khan Yunis under the command of a Paratroopers Reserve Unit, and alongside reservists from the armored, combat engineering, and infantry corps.

THE BARDELAS Battalion, which is made up mostly of young female reservists who volunteered when the war broke out, insisted that they be given permission to enter Gaza with the IDF ground forces. This battalion has secured a multi-story building on a central access road in Gaza. 

Captain Yuval disembarks from the military vehicle and moves among the various positions – guard, surveillance, and sniper. For over a week already, these positions have been staffed by her female combat soldiers, who carry out two- or three-hour shifts, after which the soldiers have a four- to six-hour break.

The area where they are guarding, under full IDF control, is almost completely devoid of Palestinians, except for civilians moving from northern Gaza to the south. Here, there is no sign of the intense shooting and active warfare that is raging in both parts of the Gaza Strip. 

Nevertheless, the female Bardelas combat soldiers are relentlessly vigilant, as they tirelessly scan the area in an effort to identify and locate any suspicious movement, which could be terrorists rising up out of a hidden tunnel. They also actively ensure the safe passage of other IDF forces and vehicles as they pass through the area.

Bardelas is a co-ed battalion made up of 70% female combat soldiers and 30% male combat soldiers. Most of the ones currently fighting in Gaza are women, with only a few male soldiers mixed in among them. 

First Sergeant Tomer, the sergeant of a unit that is stationed at a different location, notes that fighting alongside women has created “a diversified atmosphere. It also helps to prevent soldiers from feeling burnout. In general, women’s brains work differently than men’s. They see things that men would never have noticed. And this has been a real advantage here in Gaza. Their brains are sharper, which is especially helpful for snipers, since they notice finer details.” 

Second Lieutenant Roey, the unit commander, praises the adaptability of the female soldiers to the complex conditions on the ground in Gaza. “I always thought that having female combat soldiers in our unit on the other side of the border would be complicated logistically, but in actuality we have not had any issues at all since we’ve been here. The only concern so far has been that the female soldiers brought huge bags with them, but we managed that just fine.”

The male and female Bardelas combat soldiers, who were trained as part of a co-ed border patrol unit, are accustomed to serving together in a mixed-gender unit. Here in Gaza, however, many of the other combat soldiers they come into contact with are not necessarily accustomed to the presence of women on the battlefield. 

“Many of the male soldiers who see my ponytail sticking out from my helmet do a double take and the first thing they ask me is ‘what are you doing here?’” Yuval says. “But everyone’s pretty great about it, which is amazing. At the end of the day, what’s important is that we’re all working together smoothly, with a united goal. 

“Soldiers don’t really care if their fellow soldier is a woman or man. We all understand the gravity of the situation we’re in,” she said. “Even the reservists, paratroopers and tank personnel on the other side of the axis road commend the female soldiers, since they see how dedicated and serious they are.”

WHEN THEY are off duty, the Bardelas women spend their time in the makeshift recreation area up on the second floor of the building. These soldiers have been on miluim (reserve duty) for over 60 days. Some of them feel like pioneers, while others don’t understand what all the fuss is about. 

“The issue of men and women serving together in the IDF needs to be removed from our lexicon. It’s about the person, and has nothing to do with gender,” explains Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Ohr, who completed her mandatory military service a year ago, and cut her post-army trip to the Far East short so that she could come back and join up with her unit.

“This is what we signed up for,” jumps in 1st-Sgt. (res.) Sivan. “We don’t feel any difference between boys and girls at all. And if there are people out there who think that the female soldiers cannot keep up, well, we’re here to prove to them otherwise. But first and foremost, we’re here to serve the State of Israel, and not to prove a point.”

In the meantime, until the war is over, the female Bardelas soldiers are using their feet to write another chapter in the history books about women’s service in the IDF, as well as the struggle for gender equality in all affairs. They are changing the reality here in Israel so that future generations of girls will be able to dream even bigger. 

“I have no doubt that we’ve already made a big impact,” Captain Yuval concludes, as we make our way back across the border into Israel. “We’re proving our worth, and this will continue after the war ends, too. I hope that the Members of Knesset and the Israeli public will believe that if female soldiers have been successful here during the war in Gaza, then they can excel in any environment and accomplish any mission they aspire to.”

Translated by Hannah Hochner.