Brigadier General Roman Gofman, the former commander of the Etzion Brigade, was awakened at his home in Ashdod by sirens. Gofman immediately drove toward the HQ of the IDF’s Gaza Division. While traveling, however, he heard that terrorists had penetrated into the city of Sderot. He hurried there and was one of the first to arrive, shortly after 07:00 am. Cleverly, he entered through a side road. Together with a number of police volunteers, he began to advance from one intersection to the next, driving and on foot, fighting long battles against the terrorists. He made himself visible in order to determine the terrorists’ positions, and when he did so he managed to neutralize two of them. He was wounded in that battle, and was evacuated to safety. “One system collapsed,” he said, “but like a phoenix, another system arose instead — a decentralized system of civilians, commanders, police, and soldiers — and it succeeded in halting the terrorists.”
