Women have played an unprecedented role in the war against Hamas. They have also suffered grievously at the hands of Hamas. These twin narratives, of how Hamas targeted Israeli women and also kidnapped female IDF soldiers, and how women have been fighting Hamas in Gaza and in numerous other roles in the IDF, is part of this conflict.

During five months covering the war, I came across many inspiring stories of women in combat and in other roles in the IDF. For instance, on December 11, I drove down to Kibbutz Alumim to meet with the Israeli Skyriders unit that uses drones to help the IDF fight terrorists. One of the soldiers I met was named Romi, a female member of the unit. She described how she had been studying in Italy before the war began. She was back in Israel on Oct. 7 and was awakened like millions of others to the news of the attack. “We knew we had to go back to the army and serve,” she recalled. She had originally joined the army in 2018; now she returned to this unique unit.