We have been sitting inside this hot and smelly van for almost six hours, we were waiting for the green light to go into one of the towns in the West Bank and snatch a leader from a local terrorist cell. All of us were ready to explode, summers in Israel are hot. 110+ hot and sitting inside that van was not the best way to spend the afternoon.

When the OK finally came we waited for another couple of hours until night to move. Movement was very slow and deliberate. Imagine a 3, 4 and 5 stories buildings with balconies, windows and doors everywhere. In between little streets sometimes with enough room for a single walking man to pass. Not the best place to be on a firefight.

This particular terrorist we were trying to capture was in charge of planning the suicide bombings several factions were trying to (unsuccessfully) send into Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other urban areas in Israel. We wanted him badly. Usually another unit, one that specializes in this type of missions, would be tasked with this, however we were told they were otherwise busy. So on we went, a sniper platoon. We had a lot of training in urban warfare and counterterrorism, yet this was our first capture mission.

We finally arrived at the house the intel guys told us. We divided into two teams and took position. My team was going to enter via the front door while the other team was going to jump a little wall and enter via the backyard.

The house had all the lights off, except for one on the second floor. Carefully we tried to open the door but it was locked. Brute force it is then.
I radioed the other team leader and we started the counting. 3… 2… 1… GO!