The opening shot of operation “Breaking Dawn” was the elimination of the commander of the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza’s northern region. The person who carried it out in the fighter plane is Capt. S. A few days later, the PIJ commander in Gaza’s southern region was also eliminated, and the person who participated in that attack was Capt. N. This is the story of the two women behind the devastating setbacks for the PIJ.
One had previously planned countermeasures in the 2021 operation, Guardians of the Wall; for the other, this was the first attack ever. Both are combat navigators, and from their fighter jets both took out the two senior leaders of the PIJ, Taysir al-Jabri and Khaled Mansour, in “Breaking Dawn”.
Captain S. was on routine alert. On Friday morning, she had already started driving back towards her home when she was suddenly informed: “Go back south.” Intelligence about the warming in the southern sector had begun to arrive. She returned to her...
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