Former hostages Nimrod Cohen and Matan Angrest attended the Armored Corps’ beret ceremony, where they awarded outstanding recruits upon the completion of training for new tank soldiers.

Heartwarming:

The conclusion of the ‘armored Corps warriors' beret journey was joined today by captivity survivors and armored warriors, Nimrod Cohen and Matan Angrest , who distributed the certificates of excellence with the Chief Armor Officer, Brigadier General Ohad Maor. pic.twitter.com/UtYWYL2vuZ

— Iris (@streetwize) February 20, 2026

Former hostages Nimrod Cohen and Matan Angrest, who served in the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade, attended a ceremony today marking the end of training for rookies in the Armored Corps.

The soldiers completed a march to Yad Lashiryon, the Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum, next… pic.twitter.com/EpjWq8Epbe

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 20, 2026

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Iron Fist is an active protection system that detects and neutralizes threats before impact, protecting armored vehicles and their crews without detonating the enemy warhead.

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“Judge me on my abilities, not my reproductive organs,” says one who insists that the controversial pilot in the Armored Corps was a success.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In honor of International Women’s Day on Sunday, Yediot Ahronot interviewed three of the IDF’s first four female tank commanders who successfully passed a tank pilot program for women, but were then put into infantry combat units instead of the Armored Corps.

The IDF ran an experimental program in 2018 for women to become tank crew members, with 10 eventually passing the course, and four going for extra training to become commanders.

However, the Army decided last April not to integrate the women in the Armored Corps, with cost of the extra needed infrastructure being cited as a major factor in the decision.

After two new female draftees petitioned the Supreme Court for the right to serve in tanks and those who passed the course joined them, Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi reversed the decision in January and dozens of female trainees are currently participating in a second pilot.

According to anonymous officers speaking to Arutz 7 and 0404 before Kochavi’s decision, what the army didn’t tell the media was that the women were passed even though they could not do their tasks within the timeframe demanded of the men.

This included taking twice or three times as long to load shells, fire the first shell, and carry out rapid firing. It was also claimed that the women had “mental difficulties” during missions, and that the physical demands on their bodies were just too much for them.

Osnat Levy of Jerusalem insisted that the criticism was untrue.

“There is so much fake news about our experiment,” she said, “about women’s physical abilities in general. Why do they worry about our pelvic floor in the Armored Corps but not about the pelvic floor of every woman who gives birth?”

“Judge me on my abilities, not my reproductive organs,” she said.

Army statistics do point to problems with physical ability among women in comparison to men. In 2018, Arutz 7 reported that 46 percent of women in combat roles failed their annual fitness exam, as opposed to just 10 percent among the men.

In 2017, the chief of staff’s adviser on gender issues reported that women suffer more lower back and knee pain, heat injuries, anemia and urinary tract infections than male soldiers.

In another study in 2013 performed on over 2,500 female recruits, the overall rate of stress fractures was over four times higher for women than men – 11.2 percent versus only 2.5 percent.

However, the three tank commanders are firm in their view that other women could follow their groundbreaking path and succeed where they had been blocked. Saying that that they had loved their work in the tanks, they expressed optimism about the future of women in the Armored Corps.

“Things are changing slowly, but they’re changing,” said Shiran Tetroashvili.

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The IDF chief of staff oversaw discussions with the aim to evaluate the possibility of integrating female tank crew members into the Border Defense Array.

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

The IDF considers the integration of women into the armed forces “necessary,” and their contribution to be of great significance, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement follows a review over the last few weeks of the possibility of integrating female tank crews into the Border Defense Array. Although a female tank crew successfully passed a pilot course, they were not let into the Armored Corps. in a decision made back in April.

Cost was a major factor cited in that decision. The Army said that the “next stage would require a significant increase in manpower and infrastructure for the realization of the process” of creating female tank units.

However, the IDF is revisiting the decision after two women enlistees petitioned the Supreme Court to be allowed to serve in September.

The cause of women tank crews recently gained a boost this month from the support of Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brick, former IDF ombudsman and himself a former Armored Corps commander.

According to Sunday’s IDF statement, Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, “oversaw a series of discussions of a large forum which included members of the General Staff as well as senior officers of the Armored Corps. The aim was to evaluate the possibility of integrating female tank crew members into the Border Defense Array.”

The discussions included a indepth look at the pilot program and lessons derived from it and an analysis of medical data and insights from other IDF arrays in which women participate in combat roles.

Kochavi says that the pilot showed potential to integrate female tank crew members in border defense missions, while highlighting certain shortcomings in meeting the required capabilities.

He ordered another step be taken in the examination process.

The next level in the process will include:

1. Defining relevant parameters for the selection process, based on the insights from the pilot.
2. Extending the number of participants and the duration of the operational section.
3. A female-tailored training program highlighting medicine, nutrition and physical training.
4. Gender-based tanks (i.e the gender of tank-crew members would be identical)
5. During the operational section, the tank crews will operate under the Border Defense Array in the 80th Division.
6. This next level will begin during the year of 2020.

Following training and operational phases of the next level, the IDF will make a decision regarding female tank crews taking into account “only professional and operational aspects” that align with the IDF’s needs.

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A tank commander in the IDF’s armored corps was seriously wounded during a training accident late Monday night.

The wounded soldier, 20, was evacuated by helicopter to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva.

The hospital stated that the soldier was in serious condition and was being treated at the Intensive Care Unit for injuries to his head and face, and was anesthetized and being ventilated.

Another soldier was treated for light injuries.

The IDF has launched an investigation into the incident, while all training on the Merkava Mark IV tanks were halted until the circumstances of the incident are clarified.

This was the second training accident the IDF experienced on Monday.

Earlier in the day, a soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel in his back while conducting a counter-terrorism exercise at a training facility in the center of the country.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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