Marom sprinted towards a post perched in the mountains above Israel’s border with Egypt, slamming her M16 rifle onto a defensive position as part of a training exercise.

The 21-year-old soldier became one of the first Israeli women to fight in a combat role in Gaza, where she recently spent two weeks.

“In Gaza, it was the first time for all women,” said Marom, who like other soldiers interviewed declined to give her second name, under military rules.

“We can see the change, we can see the acceptance of the girls going into combat,” she said. “It’s a big mistake and I don’t know how it happened,” Eliora, 20, said.

But now, months into the Gaza conflict, women say they have found acceptance. Shana, a 23-year-old battalion commander, said the conflict has shown that women fighters can take on a bigger role.