IDF begins process to award decorations for heroism by troops during October 7 onslaught

The IDF says it held a conference today marking the start of a review of soldiers’ acts of heroism during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, to determine recipients of military commendations and decorations.

At the conference, headed by Personnel Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa and President of the Military Court of Appeals Maj. Gen. Orly Markman, commanders were presented with the framework approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir for reviewing acts of heroism by troops during the October 7 onslaught and up until the start of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in late October 2023.

The IDF has three top-level decorations: the Medal of Distinguished Service, the third-highest honor; the Medal of Courage, the second-highest; and the Medal of Valor, the highest honor the military can award.

The Medal of Valor has been awarded only 40 times in Israel’s history, most recently in 1975 for actions during the Yom Kippur War.

Commendations — known individually as a tzalash in Hebrew — can also be awarded by the chief of staff, generals, division commanders and brigade commanders.

The military says the process will be carried out in several stages. First, brigade commanders will submit recommendations for citations and decorations to their division commanders for approval. The recommendations will then be forwarded to the relevant major general before being sent to a theater-level committee.

The committee for the Southern Command, which oversees the Gaza theater, will be headed by a major general, the IDF says. The composition of the various committees will be submitted to Zamir for approval and will include career and reserve personnel from a range of IDF directorates and branches, according to the military.

In the next stage, a General Staff-level committee will convene to review the theater-level committee’s recommendations.

The General Staff committee’s recommendations will be submitted to Zamir for a decision on recipients of the Chief of Staff’s Citation and the top-tier decorations. Recommendations to award the highest honor, the Medal of Valor, will then be forwarded to the defense minister for approval.

The IDF adds that cases of exceptional civilian heroism will be referred to a presidential advisory committee responsible for recommending recipients of the President’s Medal for Civilian Heroism.