IDF Officer Describes Surprise Rescue Drill at Zikim

A Home Front Command officer described a surprise rescue-brigade exercise on October 6 that included a helicopter deployment to Zikim after an early-morning call-up. In an interview published that evening, Major N., the operations officer of the Ra'am battalion, said her rescue team was called at 06:15 and landed at Zikim within twenty minutes. Rescue-brigade battalions practiced combat scenarios as well as rescue work at simulated destruction sites. She described the challenge of maintaining rescue readiness after repeated deployments over the preceding three years.