Brothers in Arms War Room Recounts Civil Mobilization After Oct. 7
Civil society organizations and volunteers rapidly mobilized following the October 7 attacks to supply the IDF and assist displaced southern residents amid severe military shortages.
In the early days following the October 7 attacks, as state systems struggled to meet massive operational needs, civil society organizations, companies, and thousands of volunteers mobilized to assist soldiers, families, and border communities. One of the prominent bodies that stepped up was the civilian war room of Brothers in Arms.
Eyal Naveh, a representative of the civilian war room, recounted the opening hours of the offensive, the urgent effort to identify requirements, and the organizational framework designed to support troops and residents.
Swift Mobilization and Emergency Response
"We reacted extremely fast, realizing this was a super dramatic event, convening rapidly and setting clear goals very quickly. It was a Saturday, there was no public transportation, and anyone wanting to get south to the assembly areas had no way to do it. By 10:30 AM, we had established a hitchhiking war room at Savidor. People were driving up and down. We understood very quickly. We had three main goals: to help the IDF win, to help the residents of the south and later the north, and to care for bereaved families, hostages, and the wounded. These are the three goals we placed before our eyes. This is the Israeli DNA. This is the DNA where everyone steps up during a crisis," Naveh described regarding the first moments information poured into the Brothers in Arms war room on October 7.
He noted that a subsequent command center was established in Beit Kama, from which rescue and relief operations for residents were launched. "We established a war room in Beit Kama. We rescued over 3,000 families. Teams from Brothers in Arms entered and assisted the state, the authorities, and the army. We knocked on people's doors to convince them we were Israelis. In their consciousness, they thought everything had been overrun. At that time, we were brothers in arms. We brought people for psychological treatment, counseling, then to host families, and eventually they went together with their communities to the Dead Sea or Eilat. I remember the security officer of Sderot; it was impossible to separate us from the people in the south or the north, and there was an immense connection," he shared.
Addressing Military Shortages
Naveh also addressed the severe equipment shortages that he stated were felt in the field at the beginning of the war, and the civilian efforts aimed at meeting the demands reported by military units.
"The equipment for the army, in the beginning, there was a problem with ceramic vests; we brought tens of thousands of vests. The army's shortage was incomprehensible, impossible to explain. In almost every aspect there was a shortage—socks, food, protective goggles, watches, drones. I remember we brought robotic dogs that entered tunnels. Everything was missing. The entire civil society stood up on its feet quickly, composed itself, and began to help."
According to Naveh, a significant portion of the assistance was made possible through donations from Israel and abroad, alongside heavy involvement from the business sector. Funds arrived rapidly from global Jewish communities, enabling the acquisition of tons of supplies and the establishment of a technological mechanism to track individual soldiers' needs. He estimated that the military apparatus quietly received roughly one billion shekels in aid from civil society during the crisis.
