M., a mother of four and wife to a hi-tech professional, described her mission in five words: “returning the hostages and denying Hamas aid.”
“As a uniformed officer, my role is first and foremost to protect the State of Israel and everyone who lives here,” Lt.-Col. M., 42, head of the Foreign Relations Department in the Coordination and Liaison Directorate (CLD) for Gaza, told Walla in an interview.
Since December 2024, she has overseen the coordination of humanitarian aid activity in the Gaza Strip with dozens of international organizations.
M., a mother of four and wife to a hi-tech professional, described her mission in five words: “returning the hostages and denying Hamas aid.”
“Most of our work involves coordinating humanitarian efforts with actors inside and outside the Gaza Strip,” she explained. “We bring in humanitarian aid, and we also coordinate the evacuation of patients and the safe transfer of foreign nationals.”
Her role goes far beyond supervising aid trucks. “There’s coordination that is not necessarily food—such as medical equipment, blood units, and more. On the one hand, we are fighting, and at the same time, medical teams or humanitarian convoys must move during or near combat zones. These are two parallel efforts that must be synchronized.”
IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip, August 12, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
M. noted that the looting of aid is routine. “Most of their trucks are looted along the way. We see it. Aid from these trucks, with international logos, is sold in the markets. You can even see its impact on prices—for example, flour prices have dropped.”
She has also had to address complex incidents, including the deaths of World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff in an Israeli strike. “After every incident, we stop, investigate, study what happened, and try to understand why. Gaza is a war zone. It’s not a sterile area.”
Returning the hostages
M. was directly involved in Operation ‘Derech Eretz,’ which saw hostages returned and Palestinian prisoners released. “The truth is, Operation ‘Derech Eretz’ shook me the most,” she recalled. “To see the coffins of our hostages—it’s to hurt, to cry on what happened to us as a people, a nation, an army on October 7. And a minute later, you have to pull yourself together, remember you’re on an operational mission, and continue.”
“The hostages are my top priority,” M. stressed. “Even if some of the aid we bring in reaches them and keeps them alive one more day, I’ve earned my bread. This is my life’s mission.”
Despite the strain, she insisted her fight is not against the civilians of Gaza but against Hamas. “I will do everything to prevent Hamas from accessing humanitarian aid. And I live with the hope that at any moment, I will get the call: prepare for another hostage return.”