For more than a year, a dedicated group of young women in Israel’s military has been on high alert, monitoring activities along the border with Lebanon. The women-only unit, known as Field Observers, has played a key role in identifying threats from Hezbollah, diligently monitoring the group’s activities from their positions. The soldiers, aged between 18 and 20, are responsible for monitoring the drone activity, mortar rounds and rockets that have plagued northern Israel since last October. Yet, despite rising tensions, he feels his warnings and contributions have been largely ignored.
“We are unsafe, which is a problem for us, but it is also dangerous for our work, which is very important,” an observer near the Lebanese border told The Washington Post. “Our superiors only want to silence us and do not want us to come to them with complaints, so they are ignoring us even more,” he said.
Despite the ongoing military campaign against Hezbollah, observers say they continue to be sidelined. Many believe this is partly due to the entrenched culture of misogyny within the IDF.
“This is a male army, where ‘girls’ are viewed as lunatics, where commanders routinely say, ‘If you keep sending these warnings, you’ll be thrown in jail,'” Gili Yuval, A former field observer said this action began in the early 2000s when Israel withdrew its forces and destroyed its settlements in Gaza.
Since October 7, he has led an organized network of current and former observers, supplying essential items such as food and clothing to victims of the attack.
The IDF has declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding these claims.
Gili Shravit, 20, an observer stationed at another location on the Gaza border in Kisufim, reported that on the morning of 7 October, she was at her workplace, trembling and in tears as she reported on the unfolding devastation: Hundreds of Hamas gunmen had penetrated their fence, taken out their cameras and attacked their base.
“We were calling our superiors and telling them we were going to die,” he recalled. “They said they didn’t have anyone for us.”
Shrewitt recalled that he had no weapons to protect himself, hiding under his worktops. Their commanders, located 20 miles away, informed them that the combat troops were trapped in an ambush and could not assist.
