Armed to the teeth…to go to the shops: Israeli woman carries an M16 assault rifle at a store in Sderot, days after Hamas siege

A woman in Israel has been seen carrying an M16 assault rifle while doing her shopping, days after Hamas began its barbaric attack on civilians.

The young woman – who was wearing a baggy gray T-shirt, dark blue shorts and mats – was seen carrying a duffel bag in her car with the rifle slung over her back.

She was also photographed clutching her phone in her hand, which had long light blue fingernails, as she walked towards her parked Nissan Micra in Sderot.

Targeting civilians, Hamas fighters killed more than 1,300 people after gunmen from the Gaza Strip on Saturday attacked parts of southern Israel in the deadliest Palestinian terror attack in Israel’s history.

The gunmen were able to penetrate deep into the country before meeting any military resistance, and even kidnapped hostages, taking them back to the Gaza Strip.

Sderot, where the woman was photographed, is less than a mile from the enclave and was one of the border towns attacked by Hamas terrorists in the early hours. Dozens of civilians and at least 20 members of the Israeli police were killed by the terrorists who overran the city.

While the Israeli military has retaken control of the Israel-Gaza border, the country remains on high alert for any further possible incursions by armed attackers, whether by Hamas fighters from inside Gaza or Hezbollah units from Lebanon.

Since the country’s independence in 1948, conscription has been compulsory for the country’s youth.

From the age of 17, most Israeli teenagers – male and female – can be called up to serve a mandatory year and eight months in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Currently, the IDF has 169,500 active military personnel, with 465,000 reservists.

As a result, Israel has the third largest active military per capita in the world and the sixth largest reserve military in the world by the same metric.

In addition, the country – which spends more than 5 percent of its GDP on the IDF – has about three million people who are fit for military service.

Furthermore, Israeli soldiers are allowed to carry their service weapons on or off duty, suggesting that the woman seen in the images is an active IDF soldier.

Civilians can also obtain a firearms license and all citizens who have undergone combat training and qualified in Advanced Infantry Training can apply for a private firearms licence. Licenses must be renewed every three years.

Most individuals who are licensed to possess handguns are permitted to carry them – while loaded – in public, openly or concealed.

Since the Hamas attack on Saturday, there have already been calls in Israel to further relax gun laws, amid fears over rising tensions between Israel’s majority Jewish population and its minority Palestinian and Muslim groups.

Israel’s controversial police minister warned that tensions could rise as the conflict between the IDF and Hamas escalates in the coming days.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right nationalist who has faced accusations of hate speech against Arabs, also said he was increasing the issuance of firearms to licensed citizens.

“I have instructed the chief of police to prepare for a “Guardian of the Walls 2″ scenario, which I think is close,” the Minister of National Security told reporters.

Operation Guardian of the Walls was Israel’s name for an 11-day war in Gaza in 2021, which sparked violent pro-Palestinian protests among Arab citizens.

While most of the stories coming out of Israel since Saturday have been ones that have ended in tragedy, there have also been stories of heroism.

One woman, a 25-year-old named Inbar Lieberman, coordinated the defense of the Nir Am community as the terrorists began to invade.

She led a group of residents to kill more than two dozen advancing terrorists while defending the kibbutz (community), just a mile from the Gaza Strip.

Lieberman, who has been part of a security detail in the region since December 2022, heard explosions that erupted early Saturday as Hamas launched its unprecedented and deadly attack on Israel.

She quickly realized the sounds were different from those she heard during regular rocket attacks on the kibbutz, and hurried to open the armory and distribute the weapons among the 12-member security team.

The 25-year-old placed her squad of kibbutzniks in strategic positions throughout the settlement, set up ambushes and turned the tables on the incoming forces.

She killed five terrorists herself, while others took the lives of 20 others over a four-hour period. Nir Am turned into an impregnable fortress, while nearby kibbutzim suffered greatly from the terrorist invaders.

Since Saturday’s attack, Israel has called up 300,000 of its reservists.

It has also rushed its forces, tanks and heavy armor to the southern desert areas around Gaza from where Hamas took over at dawn on October 7.

Israeli soldiers have since overrun southern towns and kibbutz communities and killed 1,500 militants, while making increasingly shocking discoveries of large numbers of dead civilians.

“I would never have been able to imagine … something like this,” said Doron Spielman, an Israeli army spokesman, in a gated community where more than 100 residents were killed. “It looks like… an atomic bomb just dropped here.”

Israeli anger has been further fueled by the capture of at least 150 hostages by Hamas – mostly Israelis, but also foreign and dual nationals – now being held in Gaza.

“I know he’s out there somewhere,” one of the affected Israelis, Ausa Meir, said of her brother Michael, who is among the captives. “It’s very, very painful.”

Hamas has threatened to kill the hostages if Israel bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning – deepening anger and fear in shell-shocked Israel.

“Everyone is influenced in Israel,” said Joana Ouisman, 38, a finance executive. “I have been watching TV all day for the last three to four days. All I do is cry.’