A relatively short time after the Golani brigade commander and regiment commander were injured in the mistaken fire incident in Gaza, IDF Southern District Commander Major-General Yoav Gallant joined the fighting, entering the area with soldiers for a number of hours alongside the Givati Brigade commander.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered senior commander to get in and join the action, not to remain in frontline command posts along the border. Unlike the situation during the Second Lebanon War, when then IDF commander Dan Halutz and his senior commanders observed, watching the war from their plasma screens, making decisions from an office instead of from the front line.

Ashkenazi is aware that hitting a senior commander would be a major prize for Hamas, as well as such a reality having a major impact on the fighting, but overall, the presence of senior commanders is a major boost to the morale of soldiers as well giving them the ability to obtain a first-hand look at the situation.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)