Read this IDF commander's moving words, which have since gone viral.
"My name is Ron Sayag, I am the commander of Battalion 75, and I feel a great privilege to fight alongside you.
Look at the skies, look at the dust. These skies are not burning yet. Our mission is to make these skies burn before they do - they will be blazing with fire. Hamas is doing everything, everything they can to avoid returning our hostages, threatening our very existence. We must not let them get away with this.
The time has come to deliver a decisive blow to Jabalia.
Who is going to do this? Battalion 75, the 7th Brigade. We will act with maximum force. Look into each other's eyes - we're going to give everything for each other. We have combat engineers who have been fighting for half a year, we have tank crews, we have reservists who left everything behind to restore security to the State of Israel.
A long war lies ahead of us.
Zeev Jabotinsky said something very important: 'A pioneer is someone who acts for those who will come after him.' We are going to make this country much better. We are going to protect the people of Israel. Each and every one of you is part of the victory generation. You don't know it yet, but you are writing the history of the State of Israel. A war unlike any seen before - we will do everything for each other, and only together will we deliver the decisive blow. Together we are eternal, we will defeat Hamas.
I told you one thing - we are in a War of Independence. It is our destiny and our duty to be a free people in our land. And so it's important to me now that everyone here joins in singing Hatikvah [Israel's national anthem]."
