Hi,
We will soon be sitting in an House in defense. This is something new to me and our company (and probably to our battalion as well). This is because we had not been to Gaza since October 7th, and were not part of the ground maneuver.
The idea of an house in defense is catching an house while progressing on feet in an urban area. As you cannot stay outside in the street as night falls, you need to fortifies yourself, and a building is the best thing you have when in an urban area.
As a residential/ commercial/ Industrial building does not necessarily fits to be defended well – there is a lot of work need to be done to make it fits to our needs: clean up the area, block the windows and other openings, arrange areas for sleeping, toilets, cooking and so on.
This house can be abandoned after one night, or you can stay in it for several nights. It depends on the needs of the missions, and of the house is burnt (meaning – if the enemy had manage to locate the house and understand you are static in this location and therefore more vonקrable to attack).
Staying in this kind of location is hard mentally and physically. The conditions are hard: no showers, no toilets, the place is crowded and you have no privacy, cellular phones are not allowed, no light is allowed when darkness comes (and you can do is sleep), there are many guarding positions, you can get out of the house, or climb to the roof as those are too dangerous, and you do not really knows when will be out of there.
For the first 24 hours, you have to carry all you need on your back, along with your fighting gear. What makes the way to the place and back from there hard.
Take Care
Gad
Inside the apartment
A building could be used for house in defense
Another building that can be used for it