Focused and determined: The female snipers deterring threats to IDF forces in Gaza
A rarity in the military, two female snipers from the IDF's Bardelas unit share their experiences from the Gaza frontlines.
Tal Ariel Yakir
Israel Hayom
Sep 20, 2024
Suddenly, Staff Sgt. (res.) S. spotted a woman in a long dress advancing toward the building from afar. S. reported to her commanders and waited for instructions. According to the messages IDF had relayed to Gaza civilians, anyone insisting on approaching the area would be suspected of attempting to harm ground forces and would be risking their life.
"The decision was made to fire near the woman, to make her turn around and leave," S. reveals for the first time about her conduct as one of the few female snipers in the Israeli military. "It's a warning so they don't become a threat to IDF forces. They should know we won't kill them for no reason, but someone's keeping an eye on them.
"When she continued to advance, I fired a second and third time close to her feet. The woman seemed determined and didn't crouch or move aside. She kept walking toward the soldiers. I shot her in the leg, and she stopped and then fell. She didn't cry or scream. Paratroopers approached her and provided medical treatment while I continued observing the route.
"Suddenly I saw an old Fiat approaching at top speed. I fired once at the vehicle as a warning. Through the scope, I saw the driver wearing black clothes, dark sunglasses, and a baseball cap. He didn't slow down for a second, and it was clear he was determined to harm the soldiers helping the woman. I aimed at his chest and fired once. The car stopped, and the driver crawled out and fell to the ground bleeding.
"I kept my eyes on him while combat engineers cautiously approached and blew up the car. The noise, fire, and force made it clear that the car was rigged with explosives. I felt like I was in the movie 'American Sniper' in Iraq. Is this really me here now? I prevented a mass-casualty attack.
"Afterward, I thought about the ruthlessness of Hamas terrorists, who sent an elderly woman as a human lure. These terrorists have no limits, and they don't care about collateral damage. Let children and women die. The ones who saved the woman were IDF soldiers."
Although about 20 female snipers currently serve in the mixed-gender Border Defense Corps battalions – Bardelas, Caracal, Lions of the Jordan Valley, and Lions of the Valley – this detail doesn't receive media attention and doesn't appear in any Wikipedia entry or on the IDF website. Even Hollywood, addicted to war movies in Iraq and Afghanistan, has no trace of women serving in sniper platoons.
IDF snipers S. and L.
Now, Israel Hayom has interviewed two snipers from Bardelas, S. and Staff Sgt. L., who shared about their challenging role, their entry into Gaza, the elimination of terrorists, and the moments when they were in mortal danger.
"There's not a second of quiet in Gaza," L. says. "In my estimation, the terrorists eventually figured out we were in the building and tried to hit us too. It was clear to me that there was a chance I'd end my life there, but I was focused on the mission."
Q: Did you write a letter to your parents in advance?
"I decided against it. I was afraid I'd be tempting fate, accepting the fact and bringing death upon myself."
The look of Lara Croft
When searching online for women who served as snipers, only the name of Lyudmila Pavlichenko comes up, who served in the Russian army during World War II and single-handedly eliminated 309 soldiers from the Nazi German army. Beyond that, there's no reference to these female fighters.
S. (21) and L. (20) understand that they are unique, but prefer to remain in the shadows where it's easiest to blend in and disappear – a stone's throw from the southernmost Egyptian border. The role of Bardelas fighters is to prevent infiltrations and thwart weapons and drug smuggling, while snipers provide backup from height and shoot at long ranges if necessary. When there's no operational need for snipers, they also serve as regular fighters and join pursuits and arrests.
This week the border looked quiet. No foxes or wild donkeys roamed near the Egyptian fence, and the yellow mountains gleamed in their desolation under the scorching sun. One giant sign, partially peeled, warns in Hebrew, Arabic, and English that anyone who crosses or touches the fence is risking their life.
Despite the heavy heat, S. and L. climb to a high observation post with huge protector cases containing the heavy sniper rifles. They nimbly hop over the slippery rocks and for a moment look like a copy of Lara Croft, just with the addition of IDF uniforms and minus the knife strapped to the thigh.
"Smuggling has decreased, but we mustn't underestimate our activity there."
When they skillfully pull out the long-range weapon, capable of reaching 500 meters (1,640 feet), a serious expression comes over their faces. They straighten the bipod, insert the magazine, lie down on the sharp rocks without blinking or crying out in pain, and get under a camouflage net covering their entire bodies. Only the barrel and their fingers with colorful nail polish stick out.
"It's on purpose," L. smiles. "The nail polish is the most obvious sign showing it's a female fighter and not a male. With the uniforms, vest, helmets, and face cover, you can't tell it's a female sniper. We're left with our nails and also the braid in our hair, which isn't always visible."
Q: Did you know that female fighters in the Kurdish army wore heavy makeup and shouted "kololo" at ISIS terrorists in Syria so they'd know they were women? ISIS believers think that whoever falls at the hands of a woman loses their place in paradise.
"Excellent idea," S. laughs. "Next time in Gaza I'll trill 'kololo' the moment I release a bullet."
About a month and a half ago, S. was discharged from regular service, and the next day she enlisted in the reserves until the end of November. "As someone who grew up in the south, I looked up to the soldiers who protected my home even as a child," she says. "In high school I knew I'd study architecture and interior design, so in the army I looked for something opposite and experiential that doesn't exist in civilian life. It was clear to me that I wanted to be in combat, not sitting in front of a computer, and I chose Border Defense infantry to serve as a fighter."
Q: Were you accepted to the sniper team right from the start?
S.: "No. After basic training, everyone receives a weapons package, and I got a marksman rifle, which is more accurate and for relatively long ranges. I connected with long-range shooting and wanted to switch to sniping, but there was no room. When the only two female snipers in the team at the time suffered from medical issues and couldn't do more ambushes, I jumped at the opportunity."
L., a resident of the north, also wanted to serve as a combat soldier, but hadn't heard of Bardelas, which was established nine years earlier, and chose the Oketz unit. "I enlisted two years ago and was already interested in serving as a sniper during basic training," she smiles.
Staff Sgt. L. (right) and Staff Sgt. (res.) S.
"The sniper team was full, so I served as an operational driver. There was quite a bit of activity around smuggling at the border and I really enjoyed it, but when the need for more snipers arose during the war, I immediately said I was interested. In the course, I was the only female fighter among men. They treated me like one of them and didn't make an issue of me being a woman. I managed to participate in a few ambushes before I received the notification that I was entering Gaza."
A bullet in memory of the fallen
The morning of Oct. 7 caught L. at home, while S. was at the base near Eilat. "I was in a room with no reception, and to get messages you need to go outside," she recounts. "I woke up around 10 when a female fighter finished her guard duty and was making herself coffee. She didn't tell me anything about the Hamas invasion and the drama in the country.
"After a few minutes I went out of the room to check my phone to see who had tried to reach me, and I was shocked. Murdered, kidnapped, hell. I realized we were at war. My mom was hysterical because she couldn't reach me and feared I had been killed. By the time I calmed her down, all the battalion's fighters and the sniper team had already arrived. After two days they sent us to Talmei Yosef in the Eshkol region."
L.: "I was there too, and the rockets didn't stop. Usually I heard a 'boom' and only then came the siren. We did patrols in greenhouses and checked the orchards to make sure there were no more terrorists, and we secured residents who didn't want to evacuate. There wasn't a moment of respite there."
In November, L. joined the sniper course, while S. returned to routine activity on the Egyptian border. "If in the past we would go on ambushes every time there was intelligence information, in those days we went out every day from sunset to sunrise," says S. "We barely slept, and my days and nights were flipped. I felt disconnected because they didn't always allow us to open our phones, and I constantly wanted to get updates on information about hostages, fallen soldiers, and the activity of IDF forces."
Q: When did you receive the notification that you were entering Gaza?
S.: "The day before we entered, in early December. I was very excited, but there were also concerns. In Bardelas we're used to stones, sand, and desert, not urban warfare."
L.: "I received the notification a few hours before we left for Gaza. This was about a week after I finished the sniper course. I didn't know what to pack because I tend to bring my whole house everywhere. It was important for me to take hygiene and grooming products, because the mission in Gaza doesn't contradict my desire to remain a woman."
Q: Did you want to join the fighting?
L.: "It was very important to me. At the beginning of the war, I lost one of my best friends, Sgt. First Class Aviel Melkamu, a fighter in Egoz who fell in Kisufim. I wanted to fight for him. I decided to dedicate the first bullet that would leave my barrel in Gaza to him. I knew this was also our moment as female fighters and snipers on the front lines. They didn't always believe in women fighters in the IDF, until Oct. 7 came. Unfortunately, it was the war that exposed our capabilities."
Q: Do you remember the moment you crossed the border into Gaza?
S.: "I remember the ride in Humvees through Be'eri Forest to the place where the terrorists breached the wall. I was amazed at how short the road to Khan Younis was. We drove maybe ten minutes. No wonder the terrorists entered the border communities so quickly."
The sniper team positioned themselves on a floor of the factory and turned it into an organized observation post. They covered the windows with special camouflage nets, set up a table in front of the window facing the route, and placed the long sniper rifle on it. Then they dragged a bookcase and turned it into a cabinet for food products, and set up a gas stove on which they prepared pasta. After a few days, reserve soldiers from the battalion arrived at the location and conducted a moving ceremony for the snipers.
L.: "It was during Hanukkah. One of the reservists brought a mezuzah with him and fixed it at the entrance to the factory, which was quite destroyed. He spoke in a touching way and said that Hamas terrorists entered our homes during Simchat Torah and slaughtered our people. There's nothing more symbolic than that on another Jewish holiday we're fortifying ourselves in their homes, putting up one of the Jewish symbols and protecting our people. I've never been so moved."
Inside a booby-trapped Fiat
The Tancher route became the main path through which humanitarian aid passed. Occasionally, civilians also walked on it in an orderly and approved manner to northern Gaza, holding white flags in their hands. "We saw civilians with blankets and bags, and we looked at them through the sights," says S. "Sometimes I felt a little sorry for them, but I felt they brought this situation upon themselves.
"We were always on alert and with an eye on the scope. We knew the infantry soldiers were counting on us, and we were essentially on the front line. The forces were behind the factory. It was clear that if we missed a terrorist, he would continue to the fighters and harm them, or could also enter our factory."
L.: "We had to be as alert as possible, even if we weren't on shift at that moment. The area wasn't clear of terrorists, and there were shafts and tunnels around us. Once they found a shaft right in the factory yard and had to evacuate us from there for a few hours, and another time a mortar fell near the building, opposite our position.
"One night we suddenly saw lights from the neighboring house. The place was supposed to be empty because the residents had evacuated. Then we also heard sounds of gunfire. We were sure it was in our direction and prepared to return fire. At the last moment, it turned out that one of the patrols had positioned themselves there and luckily a battle didn't break out between us and them."
Q: Did you think about the hostages and whether they were in the surrounding area?
S.: "After Dec. 15, the day when the hostages Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samar Fouad Talalka were mistakenly shot – that was the biggest fear."
L.: "I thought about how they might be a few houses away from us and we don't know. I hoped that during our time there, the forces would manage to rescue some of them. The space in Gaza changes all the time, and the biggest fear is shooting someone who looks like a terrorist and then finding out he's a hostage."
Q: Did you shoot at terrorists?
"I shot two," says S. "The first time was about a month after we entered Gaza. I wasn't on shift and was supposed to be resting but couldn't. My personal weapon was on me, and I was looking at the route through one of the cracks created by the Air Force bombings. Suddenly I saw two people. They were walking confidently and seemed to know where they were going. We couldn't see if they had firearms or knives. They could also be observers.
"One of the female snipers shot at them but missed and they ran to the side. We immediately got up. One of the female fighters and I shot in their direction with our personal weapons and saw them fall. A force of paratroopers approached them and checked them. It turned out that one of them was carrying an explosive device on his body and the other was probably his assistant. We had no doubt he came to blow himself up on the soldiers."
Q: Was this the first time you killed a person?
"Yes, but it didn't stress me out. I acted on autopilot. It's a terrorist, and there's a reason why we entered Gaza. The lives of the ground fighters are in my hands. It's either the terrorist or them. Afterward, the realization that I had taken a life sank in, but I didn't feel bad because he came to murder us. The terrorist with the booby-trapped Fiat, two weeks later, also came to kill soldiers. I don't have nightmares at night because of them."
L.: "I didn't get to kill terrorists because they didn't come during my shifts, and my main role was to locate and take down explosive drones in Gaza. I also got to participate in classified intelligence activity, which was unusual for the style of sniper work. However, I didn't forget my promise. Every morning there's a dawn readiness where terrorists come out, and we shoot and warn them not to approach. The first bullet was always dedicated to Aviel, may he rest in peace.
"In addition, I took part in an incident where a terrorist tried to blow himself up on the building. He came through the route and looked like a civilian, but walked in zigzags as if he was drunk or high. We got on the radio with one of the company commanders on the ground, and he asked us not to shoot so he could interrogate the civilian, who suddenly started smiling and waving his hands. Our commander asked us to still position ourselves near the windows. She decided to shoot near the civilian's feet, and it was lucky.
"He got scared, turned on his heels and ran. The company commander also asked the female sniper to shoot near his feet, and he stopped. Infantry fighters caught him, and it turned out he was carrying an explosive belt on his body. In such cases, you internalize the dangers and threats. There isn't a single relaxed second in Gaza."
The intensity and operational tension were occasionally interrupted by events that today make the female snipers smile. But in those days, they were tense and alert, and understood how thin the line was between eliminating a terrorist and hitting an innocent civilian.
On operational activity in Gaza
"One night I saw a little girl on the route, maybe 4 years old," recalls L. "She was alone, dressed in pajamas, and holding a large bag that was dragging on the ground. We thought terrorists had sent her to discover our location, and that maybe there was an explosive device in the bag. There were many theories and possibilities, but it was decided to let her pass on the route without shooting in her direction. We felt sorry for her."
S.: "It was one of the more bizarre sights we saw there. The girl walked forward, but kept turning her head back towards us, as if she was looking for someone. She continued walking for long minutes until she disappeared from view.
"Even if the terrorists were trying to make us shoot at her or were trying to see how we react to a small child, I'm glad she wasn't hurt. Unlike them, to whom the girl's life wasn't important, we are humane."
Q: Did many civilians like her approach you by mistake?
S.: "Quite a few. This used to be their main street. I was just after a shift when an elderly man approached the building and a female sniper shot near his feet. Suddenly he started undressing and the shooting stopped because we saw he didn't have weapons or an explosive device. He took out a cigarette and then lowered his underwear, and continued to approach until he was out of the sniper rifle's range.
"I approached one of the holes in the wall and shot near his feet with my personal weapon. A fragment from the ground flew at him and hit near his genitals. He got scared, jumped to the side and stopped. Soldiers below approached him and took him for questioning, and then sent him back to the route. It was clear he wasn't right in the head. Since then, the soldiers called me 'the mohel'.
"He and the girl with the bag weren't the only bizarre stories, and I estimate that the terrorists wanted to constantly test our operational tension, and how alert we are. Maybe they were waiting for us to hurt civilians so they could complain about the IDF. Once there were children with bicycles, we shot near them and they ran away. Once we shot near a civilian who continued walking despite the warnings, we shot him in the leg and he fell and didn't move. We were sure he was dead, but suddenly he got up and ran quickly, despite the injury."
Lying in dust and mud
After about two months at the observation post in the factory, the female snipers left Gaza. S., who was about half a year from discharge, felt she had exhausted the period. "I missed my family and wanted to shower because I was full of dust," she says. "I even missed toilets, because I was tired of doing my business in bags. Although we maintained hygiene as much as possible, and I even have a picture with a cleansing mask on my face, it was still two months where we weren't completely clean."
L.: "In Gaza there was almost no contact with family at home or friends. I wanted to get updates and reassure my parents a bit. I knew what we did was very significant and that the moment they called me, I'd go back. They did call us about a month ago to join a specific activity in Rafah, with armored and Nahal forces.
"I'm still in regular service, but S. came this time as a reservist. In the end, they didn't need us and we returned to Israel after a few days. I felt that thanks to us there's more awareness of Bardelas and female snipers. The armored corps and Nahal specifically requested us, following our activity in Khan Yunis. They learned to appreciate us, and we love giving backup to other corps. If they call me to Gaza again, I'll show up without hesitation."
S.: "It seems to me that once I'm discharged from the reserves, I'm changing direction. If the war continues, I'll start working and not studying, so as not to interrupt the continuity if they call me back to reserves."
Compared to the Sisyphean nature and high intensity in which they functioned in Gaza, service on the Egyptian border now seems to S. and L. a bit like a summer camp. "I feel there are fewer smuggling attempts than before, and this is probably related to the war, but still you can't underestimate the importance of our activity," says S. "Any illegal weapons brought into Israel could end up with criminal organizations or be used for terrorism.
"Our job isn't simple, and it's not easy being a female sniper. We lie on rocks and dust, and in summer we sweat under our uniforms. In winter it's very cold, we get wet from the rain and covered in mud. One time, because there was such a heavy downpour, it took a long time until a vehicle managed to leave the base to collect us from the observation post."
Q: What qualities are required of a sniper?
S.: "A lot of patience, because we're thrown into the field for hours."
L.: "You also need composure and the ability to concentrate and disconnect from your surroundings."
Q: What's your advantage as female snipers compared to men?
S.: "Most men have ants in their pants, and women have more patience. We're capable of staring for hours through the scope without moving."
L.: "I think that in principle, the sniper role allows us to diversify. A regular soldier can't replace us, but we're also fighters. When we're not needed as snipers, we patrol with the soldiers.
"About two months before the war, the battalion received intelligence about a drug smuggling operation that would take place in a certain location. I went there with another female fighter, not as a sniper, and not far from there we saw an Israeli civilian walking around. He's always in the area when there are alerts about possible smuggling, and he always claims he's doing walks and sports.
"We approached him, and while doing so we called for a Border Police force. He insisted he came to hike and told irrelevant details about his partner. We played along as if we believed him, to buy time until the Border Police arrested him. Later we arrived at the point indicated by the intelligence, very close to where the civilian was wandering. There were smugglers who saw us and ran away, leaving behind four sacks. We opened them and inside were drugs."
Q: How does your environment react to the fact that you're serving in a role that doesn't have many women?
S. laughs: "They're supportive and very enthusiastic. When there's a Hollywood movie about female snipers, we'll know we've made our mark."
1 comment:
Female snipers wear lip gloss??
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