Major (res.) L., a pilot in the 190th Combat Helicopter Squadron, fought the terrorist infiltration on Black Saturday - and was among the first to be airdropped into the communities surrounding Gaza.
In his conversation with Yinon Magal and Amir Avivi, he recounted what happened in those critical minutes. During their conversation, he said: "A fire in a town in the country - something I never imagined I would do.".
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He spoke about the fighting in Gaza: "Our mission at this stage is to assist the forces inside. We work closely with them at the battalion commander and company commander level for anything they need fire support for," he described. "We wake up in the morning, we go to bed, and that's what we do. That's our job. We're above them, with them. There are threats to us, just like there are to all fighters. We know how to defend ourselves very well, and we carry out the mission while protecting ourselves. We're with them as much as necessary.".
L. added: "The advantage of combat helicopters, which we clearly understand as of October 7th, is the ability to connect to the field cell and be part of the battle picture. You see the enemy in the eye, you are there, and that is the significant advantage we bring to the arena. And of course the armament, the capabilities, to identify everything in the picture from above. There are some that fly around the clock, we accompany them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.".
He said about the moment our lives changed beyond recognition: "The event opened on the morning of October 7th, this is the most significant event I have had in this fighting. I am one of the first helicopters to arrive at the scene. I arrived before 10:00 at the Kerem Shalom scene, this is a very complex event. We arrive at a scene where no one understands what is happening there, we very quickly realize that we have nothing to do except start scanning the area, we identified dozens of terrorists in the Kerem Shalom sector.
""We know later that they were just moments before the raid on the kibbutz. We prevented a very significant event that could have developed there. This is the event that, for me, was the most defining in the fighting, and I think you can understand why. I carried out a number of actions that help me understand that these were terrorists for sure. The event of setting fire to a settlement inside the country is something I never imagined I would do.".
""From there I continued for 12 hours in a continuous flight, flying to the base, refueling, arming, taking off for a sortie, and returning. This is what the first twenty hours of combat looked like.".
He emphasized: "I understand the feelings, I have a family that lives in the envelope, I know very well what happened that morning. In the places we reached, we made a significant change and saved the lives of our people. In the places we were unable to reach in time, the situation was much worse.".
