Female IDF observers will be given weapons

The plan, which will be implemented in 6 weeks, will provide each IDF observer with a Tabor-type weapon.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

More than a year after the Hamas invasion on October 7 when female border observers were targeted, the IDF has decided to provide them with weapons.

The plan, which will be implemented in 6 weeks, will provide each IDF observer with a Tabor-type weapon after they complete training.

The decision comes after criticism that the female observers were left unarmed close to the Gaza border when Hamas invaded.

The IDF also received criticism for the failure to follow up on the observers’ reports of increased Hamas activity on the border shortly before the invasion.

Female lookouts on the Gaza border said their warnings and reports were not heeded before the October 7th massacre according to a report by the BBC.

“Why are we here if no one’s listening?” Shahaf Ashram, one of the first Nahal Oz lookouts killed by Hamas, complained to her mother Illana shortly before October 7th.

The mainly female lookouts, known as tatzpitaniyot, provide a crucial service to the IDF and are often called, “The eyes on the border.”

Their task is to watch the border every second–without squinting or looking away for even the briefest moment, and to record what they see.

The lookouts noticed highly suspicious behavior on the border for several months before the invasions and reported what they saw, but when they expressed concerns, they were often ignored.

One lookout who called herself “Noa” said that when she tried to raise the alarm about the things they saw, they were told that their job was only to watch, and said, “We were just the eyes.”

However, Noa said that the lookouts knew that there was a “balloon that was about to burst” on the border.

The lookouts also said they saw people detonating bombs on the wall between Gaza and Israel to test its strength in the weeks leading up to October 7th.