evidence: In the current war, which includes intense urban warfare with Hamas combatants hiding amongst civilians, booby trapped buildings, a simultaneous hostage search, and Hamas fighters disguised as civilians or hostages themselves, such ease of communication can mean the difference between life or death for IDF units. "Soldiers use cellular devices from deep within the Gaza Strip to have encrypted conversations with other soldiers in the field, with various bases or headquarters. This helps those at headquarters or other bases gain a clearer picture of the situation and give orders to soldiers in the field," says Ofri. The phone also allows soldiers, many of whom have been in Gaza for months at a time with no reprieve, to have some communication with the outside world, allowing soldiers to listen to their children’s weddings or circumcision ceremonies via the device. [...] Before the development of the smartphone in 2018, the military used a cell phone developed in the early 2000s called "Mountain Rose." They discontinued Mountain Rose about five years ago when the army shifted to using the current smartphone. Before Mountain Rose, the IDF used radios for communication, and before that, carrier pigeons, immortalized in novelist Meir Shalev’s story "A Pigeon and a Boy" about a Haganah pigeon carrier during the 1948 War of Independence.