From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 6, 2023
‘The flowers will continue to bloom’: Army reopens surveillance center hit by Hamas
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
After it was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, the Nahal Oz surveillance control center has been reopened by the military, temporarily at the Re’im army base.
During the onslaught, Hamas terrorists killed and captured several members of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps 414th unit on the Nahal Oz base.
Footage published by the Israel Defense Forces a week after the attacks showed Unit 414 soldiers opening fire using remote weapon systems at Hamas terrorists approaching the border. “Commander commander, we are at war,” a soldier was heard saying over the radio.
New footage published by the IDF shows the moment Unit 414 soldiers, monitoring surveillance cameras, open fire using remote weapon systems at Hamas terrorists approaching the Gaza border on October 7. pic.twitter.com/Bg30z1XKXO
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 15, 2023
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant later told Unit 414 soldiers who survived the attacks: “You went through things that soldiers in Israel have not gone through since the War of Independence… You functioned in combat conditions, experienced heavy losses, and played an important part in the battles.”
The soldiers of the unit are tasked with monitoring surveillance cameras along the Gaza border and dispatching forces to potential incidents.
Members of the unit were among those who warned, in the months before the Hamas massacres, of unusual activity by Hamas at the border fence.
The new command center, which opened yesterday at the Gaza Division’s base — the Rei’m camp — will allow the surviving soldiers and reservists to again carry out their jobs monitoring the Nahal Oz area.
“The story of the Nahal Oz command center will forever be remembered as a story of heroism and fighting,” says the commander of Unit 414, Lt. Col. Ofir Avram.
Outside the new command center, a mural is painted showing three soldiers in a field of sunflowers, with text reading: “The flowers will continue to bloom.”
