Google translated from Hebrew to English but still an interesting read.

If multiple Apache helicopters, made several rounds to refuel and rearm, and assisted forces in firing on the kibbutz' as well. A great deal of the Israeli casualties could have been self afflicted.

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Helicopters and directing pilots on WhatsApp | Air Force on the 1st

The first helicopters were actually launched from the north of the country, and arrived in the Gaza Strip about an hour after the fighting began. The terrorists were instructed not to run so that the air would think they were Israelis. The pilots shot over the sides of the fence, and also right inside the settlements. Pilots received information from the ground on cell phones. In 4 hours, about 300 targets were attacked Black Sabbath events

The Air Force began summarizing the events of the surprise attack that started the war in Gaza, and it appears that the fog of battle accompanied not only the fighters on the ground, but also the air crews that were launched into the skies of the Western Negev in the first hours of Black Sabbath.

The first pair of combat helicopters that were on immediate alert for the Gaza Division arrived at Otef about an hour or more after the events began, around 8:00-7:30, from the Ramat David camp in the north. This is despite the fact that the mother squadrons of the Apache helicopters are in Camp Ramon, which is closer to the Gaza Strip. Bermon quickly realized that something unusual was developing and brought up, with the commander of the 190 squadron Lt. Col. A himself, a combat helicopter that arrived at Otef at 8:32.

After the pilots realized that there was tremendous difficulty in distinguishing within the occupied outposts and settlements who was a terrorist and who was a soldier or civilian, a decision was made that the first mission of the combat helicopters and the armed Zik drones was to stop the flow of terrorists and the murderous mob that poured into Israeli territory through the gaps in the fence.

28 combat helicopters fired over the course of a day The fighting all the ammunition in their stomachs, in rearming rounds. These are hundreds of 30 mm cannon shells (the effect of a spray grenade for each shell) as well as the Hellfire missiles. The rate of fire against the thousands of terrorists was tremendous at first, and only at a certain point did the pilots begin to slow down the attacks and carefully select the targets.

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The Hamas army, it turns out, deliberately made it difficult for the helicopter pilots and the operators of the UAVs: in the investigation it became clear that the invading forces were asked in the last briefings to walk slowly into the settlements and outposts or within them, and under no circumstances to run, in order to make the pilots think they were Israelis. This deception worked for a considerable time , until the Apache pilots realized that they had to skip all the restrictions. It was only around 9:00 a.m. that some of them began to spray the terrorists with the cannons on their own, without authorization from

The air activity on the first day was not organized, but even in the sky the pilots improvised solutions to the complicated and unprecedented situation: a large part of the fire direction and receiving the targets from the forces fighting in the field reached the pilots through phone calls or sending pictures on WhatsApp. Against the backdrop of the huge number of murdered and kidnapped people, the Air Force is convinced that if it weren't for the aid fire and the many attacks carried out by IDF helicopter gunships that day - the carnage would have been much greater.

Another step that helped in the early hours for the air force commanders to understand the seriousness of the incident took place around 10:00 am, after the commander of the 190 squadron, Lt. Col. A, got off his helicopter in Ramon to re-arm and refuel. He downloaded the full photo film recorded by the helicopter's camera and quickly transmitted it to the corps headquarters In Kriya. In less than 20 minutes he was in the air again, and using the information he produced he instructed the other air fighters to shoot at everything they see in the fence area, and at one point he also attacked an IDF post with besieged soldiers to help the fighters of the 13th Fleet attack it and free it .

In one of the cases, as part of the lifting of the restrictions he undertook, he shot at a range of only 20 meters from the houses of one of the kibbutzim to cover the deputy commander of Division 80 who was jumped from the Sinai sector and killed four terrorists in a fierce battle. According to the Air Force, in the first four hours from the start of the fighting, helicopters and fighter jets attacked about 300 targets, most of them in Israeli territory.

On the ninth day of the war (Sunday), the Air Force is focused on an effort to eliminate senior Hamas officials at the same time as preparing its massive part for a ground entry. Bahil did not address the possibility of the dilemma that would arise in attacking targets where the top Hamas leaders are hiding - such as Muhammad Daf or Yahya Sinwar - with Israeli hostages next to them as human shields

The Air Force is working to create a new buffer between Israel and the Gaza Strip, up to three kilometers wide, and to encourage the Gazans to move south in anticipation of the heavy damage that will be inflicted on the city and the northern towns. The systemic idea according to which the Air Force is now operating is "the destruction of the military, movement and governmental capabilities of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip that threaten Israel". The pilots were instructed to act calmly and professionally, with an organized operational and intelligence logic behind each of the thousands of attacks carried out so far

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The days of battle that are already underway in the north. The IDF explains that the Air Force is trained and equipped to deal with two arenas at the same time, but the preference is to focus on one main arena. For example, the Air Force does not automatically attack every Hezbollah anti-aircraft launcher that fires a missile at Israeli drones.

At the same time, the IDF has long recognized a major effort by Iran to transport advanced weapons for Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to foreign publications, it was the Air Force that attacked the Syrian airports in Aleppo and Damascus in recent days and disabled them, as well as large weapons convoys on their way to Lebanon.

The commander of the Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, commented on the events of the first day and said: "There are many heroic stories of fighters on the ground. The pilots killed many terrorists and helicopters brought fighters to the battlefield while facing fire at them. We are proud of them and the reservists who prove the strength of the IDF and IDF The air. We investigate every day, and improve every day."

Regarding a possible ground entry, he said: "We are preparing the arena for an effective maneuver as possible and removing as many threats as possible from the ground and the air in order to give the fighters operational freedom of action. We are currently focusing on the southern arena but are highly prepared for any development that may occur in the north as well>