The nerve center of the IDF Homefront Command found itself handling 8,000 calls hourly during Operation Protective Edge. As sirens continued sounding in southern and central Israel, the command’s information center was operating round-the-clock, seeking to provide a response to a growing number of concerned citizens.

Reserve duty officer Itzik Tessler was responsible for calls coming from the chareidi sector. A big part of their role was to inform members of the chareidi community how to act in line with Homefront Command instructions during a rocket attack. They dealt with many chareidi residents of Ashdod.

One hundred operators manned the phones in the nerve center, offering responses in six different languages including Yiddish.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)