For a moment, it looked as though the Israeli soldiers from the elite Golan infantry unit were receiving orders from Rafi, their commander. But the troops gathered around his hospital bed were instead transfixed by the bandages wound across his torso, covering his shrapnel wound.

“Get better soon, we miss your annoying bossy voice,” said one.

Rafi was injured when a missile hit the hill his unit was using for cover as they engaged Hamas forces in northern Gaza. He can barely move, but he is already eager to return to battle.

“The first thing he said when he woke up from surgery was that we'd better do a good job in Gaza, or he would come in and order us around,” said Dan, 20, whose unit is expected to enter Gaza in the coming days. Some of the wounded would not allow their surnames to appear in print, as it could compromise their ability to re-enlist for duty. The olive-green uniforms of Israeli troops filled the corridors of Beersheba's Soroka hospital. Parents of soldiers who are still fighting in Gaza delivered sweets and sat with the injured.

Some of the wounded joked that they were the “guinea pigs” in Israel's war against Hamas. Six Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than fifty wounded since troops streamed across the border on Saturday evening.

“It is hard ... to see that young children are dying in Gaza,” said Sarah, 46, whose son was slightly injured by shrapnel. “But we also don't want our children's lives in danger and Hamas won't agree to stop the rockets.”

In one room, two soldiers traded accounts of a battle outside Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

“Hamas was ... trying to lure us into the tunnels they had prepared,” said Reshef, 19. Dvir, whose unit also fought there, nodded. “We had good intelligence, we knew where not to get sucked in. This won't be easy but we are prepared. It is a battle we must fight or things will only get worse.”

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