Warrior women: How October 7 spurred a female IDF revolution

The sight of abducted female IDF soldiers being released by Hamas has taken Israel – and the Jewish world – on a rollercoaster of terror and joy.

But standing next to masked Hamas gunmen for their sick propaganda display, the smiling faces of Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag defined the story in an unexpected way. Theirs was tale of defiance.

As one was reported to have told her family: “We showed them on the stage that we were not fazed.

“It had no impact on us. We are stronger than them.”

Female strength – and willingness to confront the enemy directly – has underpinned Israel’s successful military response to October 7.

Enlistment of women in Israeli combat units has surged by more than 20 per cent, with record increases in roles such as combat intelligence and search and rescue.

“I think this war is an uprising of women in the army,” one female member of the Israeli Skyriders – a unit that uses drones to help the IDF fight terrorists – has said.

On October 7, the Caracal border patrol unit, which is mixed male and female, eliminated an estimated 100 terrorists in battles near Sufa, not far from the Gaza border.

A year later, in October 2024, four female navigators played a pivotal role in the IDF precision airstrikes on Iranian military sites – acts that helped transform Israel’s strategic posture in the region.

The IDF is one of the few armies in the world to conscript women and, for years, female IDF soldiers have balanced the weight of their duties with the unique challenges of serving in a traditionally male-dominated environment – war.

With their numbers rising significantly and their roles becoming more demanding, progress towards gender parity has been promising, but not without its struggles.

Enter Lynne Myers and her initiative Lev L’Chayalot, whose mission of looking after female soldiers through uplifting events and the provision of adequate equipment and support is showing scores of IDF women that their service does not go unappreciated.

“It was my gut feeling that they needed support; nobody was talking about the women,” said Myers, who started the project with her husband Rabbi Shalom when she noticed the female soldiers standing apart from the others at an army base barbecue.

“I saw these surveillance girls were not part of the barbecue, they were on the side, she said.

“This was exactly a month after the war started so they really were traumatised; they’d lost a lot of friends in the same age group, these really young, beautiful girls.”

A few weeks later Myers and Rabbi Shalom, who in 2014 helped to launch the Emek Lone Soldier initiative for non-Israelis serving in the IDF, returned to the base to throw the young women a party, bringing along thermals and toiletry bags as gifts.

It didn’t take long for word to spread about Lynne’s fledgling project, and soon enough people began sending her information about other army bases that housed female soldiers and the kind of materials they needed.

By the time February rolled around, the Myers found their house covered in clothing, jackets and other items for the soldiers, prompting them to plan an expansion.

“I had no intention when I started for this to carry on like it has, but I did feel once I realised that it was helping and making a difference to these women that we don’t see this just as a war project, we maintain it as an ongoing project to support women in the army,” Myers said.

Lev L’Chayalot has now hosted more than 40 events – primarily at army bases – and involves nearly 100 volunteers who help bring materials, food, music, laughter and levity to female soldiers around the country.

“We have music and dancing and then we have this hafrashat challah, this challah baking, which is very spiritual, and the girls are very moved by it. And then we have food, because what’s anything without food?” But one of the parts the women appreciate the most, Myers said, is the gift bag, which includes “love letters” of gratitude and encouragement from schoolchildren and members of the public around the world. “People send me a bunch of letters from wherever, from schools in Israel, from South Africa, from England, from America, Canada,” she said. “It’s the first thing the girls take out of the bags.”

Speaking about the recent release of the young female soldiers who were kidnapped on October 7 – besides the four mentioned earlier, Agam Berger was also released last week – Myers added that while she did not know them personally, “like all Am Israel we are thrilled that they have been released, amid the pain of all our losses, that is how it is here. We hold pain and joy in one heart.”