Israel-Hamas war: Meet the IDF troops keeping the Iron Dome running

It was early in the morning in a field near Gaza. Birds would have already been up for a while. It was Saturday – Shabbat – and also the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Today we call it Black Shabbat. 

“I was sitting there looking at the trees, and then I heard a missile going out of the launcher, and then a lot of missiles. At about 7:30 a.m., we started hearing gunshots,” says Cpl. Maayan Hatooka. He is one of the soldiers who is part of the Iron Dome air defense system in southern Israel that has been defending the country since the first day of the October 7 war.

Hamas fired 3,000 rockets at Israel in the first hours of the attack on October 7. For the Iron Dome batteries positioned near Gaza and around the country, the threat was enormous. The way the air defense systems work in Israel is that they are integrated and multi-layered. Iron Dome intercepts short-range threats. David’s Sling can be used for longer-range threats, and the Arrow system is used for the longest-range threats, such as ballistic missiles that exit the atmosphere and come back down.

The Iron Dome battery is one of the miracles of Israel’s defense array. It was developed after the 2006 Lebanon War. It had many skeptics in the beginning. However, when it first intercepted a rocket from Gaza in 2011, it became clear how necessary it was. Before Iron Dome, people hid in shelters and waited to see if a rocket would hit their home or harm civilians. The rocket threat increased in range and size. Hamas used to only target Sderot and the border in the early 2000s. Then came Operation Cast Lead. Soon Hamas was targeting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Luckily, Iron Dome came online in time to stop these threats.

Air defense systems are connected today. That means this isn’t like an air defense gun 100 years ago where some individual or their team sat on the gun and shot up in the air, hoping they might hit something. Today the systems are connected to a radar that detects a threat and a battle management center, so the right launcher and interceptor are used against the right threat. 

For the defenders who work with the Iron Dome, the system has several challenges. It works without warning. That means that while the civilian thinks that the sirens happen and then missiles are intercepted, in fact the process is different. A radar detects a launch, and an interceptor may be fired if the projectile is determined to be one that needs to be intercepted. The interceptor from a launcher is fired almost immediately when the parameters of deciding to intercept are met. That means that near Gaza, the interceptor will be fired before the sirens. The soldiers won’t know it is about to happen. Nevertheless, they need to be on hand to protect the battery, and the technicians need to be there to help change out the interceptors.

October 7

The corporal remembers October 7. The volume of rocket fire was large. Then he heard shooting. 

“At first, we didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to believe what it was... We heard automatic fire. It’s not how we fire [in a disciplined manner],” he recalls. That means terrorists were nearby. Soon a local community officer from one of the Israeli communities arrived. “He came to the gate and told me there were terrorists in the area. At first, we didn’t know how big it was. We didn’t know it was happening in the area – but actually the whole South of Israel. On that day at 8 a.m., we knew what was going on.” 

The war came close to this battery. But they were not attacked. Other members of an IDF Iron Dome battery were killed by terrorists when they were on the road to re-supply their battery.

Visiting the Iron Dome

I drove down to visit the Iron Dome battery in the field. The soldiers greeted me at the gate, and we sat down for coffee between their work areas, consisting of caravans. The Iron Dome launchers were in the background. I only learned later that we would have no warning when they launched.

Lt. “M” was drafted to the IDF in March 2021. She is an officer in the unit, and her name cannot be used for security reasons. Women don’t have many options to join combat units, she says. “I wanted to be a combat soldier so I looked at my options, and then, in the end, I got here.” She did four months of training to work with the Iron Dome. Then she became an officer and commander. She learned all the information necessary to operate the system. M says she has “amazing people and soldiers under my responsibility.” 

But it’s not always easy. She spends time in the field with the soldiers and also in the battle management center, which is located somewhere else. She recently signed on for a year and four more months.

An Iron Dome battery has officers, regular soldiers who carry out various duties such as guarding, and also technicians. Sgt. “E” is a technician. He’s from Mexico originally. “All my life I learned about Israel and our people and the struggles of Jewish people throughout history. After I graduated from high school, I decided it was important to live in the Land of Israel, and it was important to draft to the IDF and to take part in the effort to defend our people,” he says.

Sgt. “E” was a lone soldier, and he wanted to be part of something tech-centric. He wanted to be in the Air Force. “I like planes. So when I drafted, I drafted to the technical unit. I got a position in the Iron Dome after a technical course, and I arrived as a technician.” 

It’s not the same as flying planes, but air defense is still the heart of what protects the country and controls the skies. “As a technician, when you have advanced technology, you need people that can give it maintenance. So we are basically responsible for day-to-day inspections and maintenance and providing solutions to malfunctions.” He takes part in all the operational activities. The soldiers have to deal with issues 24/7 in all weather conditions.

“We know our enemies can shoot at us at any moment. We need to be ready at any moment,” he says. Sometimes the crew will be up all night doing technical work. “At the end of the day, it’s worth it because every interception that is done is due to the work that we do day to day.” 

The system is also always operational. It’s not like you can switch it off, like a car. So even when fixing things or replacing the interceptor package that consists of numerous rockets, the system can still be firing. There are also multiple launchers in the same area in some cases, so a person might be working on one and have another firing. The technician says that after the army, he’d like to study engineering.

Cpl. Hatooka wanted to go to the elite Duvdevan combat unit. However, his medical profile didn’t meet the requirements. The Iron Dome isn’t the same as the combat units he wanted, but it plays an important role in protecting Israel. 

“Like everyone who is drafted to this, if they aren’t a technician, our job is to protect the system and do guard duties when we aren’t operating the launcher. Mainly we do guard duty, and our job is to make sure no one comes close.” 

This is essential. They protect it from prying eyes and terrorists. They also help reload the launcher with an officer supervising. It requires a crane to switch out the interceptors that are housed in a kind of large box that sits on the launcher.

Conflict challenges

Today, the soldiers of this battery are also dealing with the hardships of the conflict. On November 24, a ceasefire began. The rocket launchers have been quiet for several days. When I was there, it was just before the ceasefire, so there was still rocket fire from Gaza.

When the war began and Hatooka was busy guarding the site from 6 a.m., Lt. M was at home in central Israel. She drove down from where she was staying. “We got some more soldiers on the way. At the beginning, we passed the radar and BMC site, and when we got there I spoke to my commander to get more information,” she recalls. 

There were police and checkpoints everywhere. The enemy had penetrated 29 places along the fence and was overrunning communities. In Sderot, terrorists attacked the police station. Thousands of terrorists were roaming and on the rampage. M tried to get to the site of the battery as quickly as possible, to supervise reloading.

Meanwhile, Sgt. E, the technician, was also at home. He was awoken by an app on his phone warning of rockets firing in the South. “I live in central Israel, so the rockets took time to get to my home. When I saw the app, I packed my bag. I understood I would go to the base; by the volume of rockets, it made it clear it wasn’t normal.” He hadn’t seen anything like that before. 

E was in his safe room in central Israel, preparing to leave, when his commander called and said he was outside his home. “I had my bag packed, and I immediately left for the base. We didn’t understand what was going on, and it took time to understand the extent of the attack. We all came back as fast as we could.”

The soldiers have been here since the first days of the war. They are ready for anything, they say. The corporal says, “We learned not to take our foot off the gas. Despite things dying down, we can’t go back to normal. I think we all learned it is our job to take care of this country and protect it.” Now they are on alert all the time. 

The commander describes how crucial it is to have all members of the team working hard. “My soldiers are amazing, everyone wakes up with loads of energy, to work hard to load the rockets, and we have a good atmosphere.”

They describe the inner strength it takes to do this work. They also understand the threats they face. 

But despite their fears and worries, they put these aside to do the work and win the war. 