The tank crews were in “shock” at the dedication of the youth who had stepped in when formal military logistics failed to provide an immediate fix.
By Hezy Laing
In the immediate aftermath of the October 7th attacks, the IDF faced a rapidly evolving battlefield where commercial drones, used effectively by Hamas to drop explosives on armored vehicles, posed a lethal new threat to tank crews.
As the military scrambled to adapt before the ground invasion of Gaza, an unexpected group of volunteers—often identified as “Hilltop Youth” from Judea and Samaria outposts—pivoted from their traditional agricultural and construction activities to provide immediate, grassroots technical support for the armored corps.
These young activists, many of whom possess informal skills in welding and metalwork from building structures in remote outposts, recognized that IDF tank commanders were vulnerable to “top-attack” munitions while operating with open hatches.
Working with a sense of urgent mission, they gathered at staging areas near the Gaza border to manufacture and install improvised metal slat armor, colloquially known as “cope cages” or protective canopies, over the turrets of Merkava tanks.
These steel structures were designed to detonate incoming drone-dropped grenades or loitering munitions before they could penetrate the tank’s thin roof armor or strike the crew.
The mobilization was a testament to the “army of volunteers” that emerged to fill equipment gaps during the war’s chaotic first weeks.
By bringing portable welding equipment directly to the front lines, these youth were able to outfit dozens of vehicles in a matter of days, providing a layer of psychological and physical security for the soldiers preparing for urban combat.
As one tank commander said, “Following the October 7th attacks there was utter chaos at the southern staging areas due to tanks unable to proceed because of insufficient armor protection. Suddenly youth from settlements like Yitzhar and Shiloh arrived and spent the Sabbath welding metal cages onto vehicles. The soldiers in his unit were in “shock” at the dedication of the group, which had stepped in when the formal military logistics could not provide an immediate fix.”
While the IDF eventually standardized these designs, the early, rapid response from these hilltop volunteers played a role in the initial hardening of the armored fleet.
Their actions during this period highlighted a complex shift in roles, as groups often associated with friction in the Judea and Samaria redirected their energy toward the direct protection of IDF personnel in a moment of national crisis.
