As Israel expands its ground operations in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are faced with complex urban and tunnel warfare, compounded by the new reality of collapsed structures being used as booby-traps. The heightened risks of close-quarters ambushes, IEDs, and hidden explosives are especially dangerous during the first moments of entry into a combat zone. To reduce casualties, commanders are facing a growing need to limit troop exposure in high-risk environments.

This is where a U.S.-based, one hundred percent volunteer-led nonprofit came into the picture. Operation Israel was founded in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre and has led efforts to deliver urgently needed frontline tools to the mass influx of conscripts and reservists in a quick and affordable manner. Since its founding, the organization has raised nearly $10 million and delivered over 65,000 items to more than 40,000 IDF soldiers.

Its most advanced and ambitious project to date emerged from calls and reports from the soldiers who had received these donations on the front lines. The Centipede, a donor-funded, field-ready remote robotic vehicle, is designed to be  the first to enter a danger zone minimizing the need to risk the lives of soldiers. While Operation Israel fully funds the project, the design and engineering are carried out independently by a team of IDF reservists unaffiliated with the organization.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. Adi Vaxman, founder of Operation Israel, explained to The Defense Circuit the gap that this new project addresses. “Every Centipede we deploy is a group of soldiers who don’t have to enter a tunnel or building blind,” she said.

The design of the Centipede wasn’t imagined in a lab. It was built directly in response to battlefield reports from soldiers in active combat zones, with Operation Israel funding its deployment based on those urgent needs. “These aren’t theoretical dangers,” said Dr. Vaxman. “They’re life-or-death situations… That insight shaped every aspect of the Centipede’s design.”

While drones provide some help to combatants on the ground, the IDF also  needed a ground-level system that could identify hidden IEDs, enemies, and heat signatures. Equipped with tactical lights, day and night cameras, thermal vision, and the ability to navigate stairs, rubble, tunnels, and confined spaces, this tank-like design makes the Centipede a maneuverable, compact, and rugged system. It has already proven to be an effective tool in the field, having successfully spotted heat signatures, located traps, and scouted suspicious buildings for IDF soldiers.

This donor-driven innovation must come with a cost, you may ask. According to Operation Israel, each unit actually costs approximately $10,000, making it an affordable and modular solution for wide deployment. “Other systems in the IDF cost upwards of a million NIS,” said Dr. Vaxman, “and are only accessible to very specific elite units. They’re too expensive to deploy at scale.”

Several IDF units have reportedly already adopted the Centipede. Soldiers have begun providing feedback directly to Operation Israel, which relays those requests to the engineering team for implementation in future iterations, and have made requests for new iterations. “We’re now working on adding communications tools that work better underground, and systems that help clear debris in tunnels,” said Dr. Vaxman.

Operation Israel’s role shows that donor funding combined with diaspora tech talent can accomplish a broader impact during wartime in Israel. It is an example of civilian-driven battlefield innovation, and how aid can evolve from blankets to battlefield tech.