Female lookouts from the Paran Brigade who have been stationed along the Egyptian border for over a year, said that they still have no personal weapons despite promises from IDF leadership in the wake of the October 7 massacre, Channel 12 News reported.

The soldiers emphasized that they have no means of defending themselves despite being positioned just a few meters from the border. “Right now we are simply helpless,” one told Channel 12.

A year and two months after the war in Gaza began, the IDF’s Ground Forces Command released an official operational review pledging to arm all lookouts in border areas. But, nearly two years since the massacre, the promise remains unfulfilled.

“After October 7, we were promised weapons the moment we arrived at our post,” one lookout said. “We’ve been here for months, but we still haven’t received them—only strange excuses like there’s no ‘empty chamber indicator’ available in the brigade. (An empty chamber indicator is a small plastic safety device inserted into a weapon’s chamber to show it is unloaded and prevent accidental discharge.) We’ve tried repeatedly to appeal through every channel, to no avail. We had no choice but to go public in order to protect ourselves and ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.”

Another look described the situation as dangerous and absurd: “One commander with a weapon in the operations room can’t defend an entire command center in the case of an attack. Our living quarters are at the entrance to the outpost, so anyone outside the operations room has no way to protect herself.”

The IDF spokesperson stated in response to the report, “All command staff at the outpost carry personal weapons, and a commander in the operations room is armed at all times. Next month, company-level training exercises will begin, during which the lookouts will undergo certification and firing range training. At the conclusion of this process, they will be eligible to sign out personal weapons. The next cycle of lookouts will be issued weapons immediately upon completing their training.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)