Finally we received our orders. We were to continue farther south to Jabaleah, very close to Gaza City itself.
We prepared to leave that evening. At about 5 pm we started to move. We proceeded for about five minutes, and then we were told to return to that same lousy house. The mission had been postponed. I'm still not sure what the reason was. I know it was partly due to a suicide bomber squad led by a certain Hamas woman. I have bestowed upon her the moniker of "Delilah." Delilah headed a suicide bomber and RPG squad that irritated us throughout the entire operation. They would move, intel and/or recon would spot them, and then they would disappear, most likely entering abandoned houses.
So we returned to the house and waited, keeping a careful eye out for Delilah or one of her crew.
Meanwhile we came up with a new culinary discovery. Being tired of tuna, Shaft, Axel, and I actually requested a few cans of Loof in our next logistic drop. What is Loof? You are simply better off not knowing. But it is basically Kosher corned beef in a can. If there was a Kosher version of Spam, it would be Loof. I am not sure who the man was that brought the curse of Spam upon the non-Jewish world. But someone apparently thought that the Jewish people, especially the Israelis, should not be exempt from this affliction. They made Loof as a Kosher substitute, using Kosher beef instead of pork. Loof is so disgusting that there have actually been efforts and even movements to ban it from the army. Somehow it has managed to survive the negative onslaught, and it is still an important part of IDF field supplies.
I remember one time back in training I got a hold of a few extra cans and mailed them to my friends in the United States. Not being able to read the Hebrew very well they were unsure of what it was. They opened it and decided it was dog food. Their golden retriever loved it.
Anyway we discovered a way to make it palpable. We chopped the Loof first into very small cubes. We mixed it with onions and various spices. We then cooked it on a propane burner with a touch of corn oil and placed it into a roll. It actually wasn't too bad. Either that or we were just that sick of tuna and mini-salami sticks.
We dubbed our new sandwich "The Meaty Axel."
