Kerem Shalom

Twenty years after Gilad Shalit was abducted, the IDF Archive at Israel’s Defense Ministry has released, for the first time, the official operations logs from the Southern Brigade command center. The documents capture, in real time, the confusion, assessments, and growing realization that an IDF soldier had been kidnapped into the Gaza Strip.

Internal assessments warn that sending about 600 trucks a day overshoots basic humanitarian requirements; the surplus fuels smuggling, market control, and Hamas entrenchment.

Behind every wounded soldier stands a wife carrying her own invisible burden. Avital Shindler shares the long road of recovery, the emotional and spiritual challenges families face, and how a growing community of women is finding strength and purpose after injury.