On the morning of 7 October, after Hamas militants broke through Israel’s barrier with the Gaza Strip, reserve Maj Gen Yair Golan decided he could not stay at home in the central town of Rosh Ha’ayin. The scale of the attack was still unclear, but the 61-year-old put on his uniform and drove to the Home Front command headquarters, where the seriousness of the situation began to dawn on him.
“I went to the war room and I was shocked. On the big screens we could see Toyota cars moving inside Ofakim, Sderot, shooting everywhere, and I understood something terrible was happening,” he said.
