Rats assault Israeli army base

BEERSHEBA, Israel, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The mostly female garrison at an Israeli army base says it is holding out as best it can against a legion of infiltrating rats.

The women of the military's Home Front command at Beersheba told Ynetnews.com they have been overrun by rampaging rodents for more than five months and are near the breaking point.

"It's terrible," one soldier admitted. "They swarm the offices, the bedrooms, the dinning hall and the sewage system."

Another trooper said extermination efforts haven't worked and everyone at Beersheba is on high alert. "The rats roam freely around us," she said. "We're so scared that we can't sleep at night."

Ynetnews said the military is refusing to surrender in the campaign, but the issue has made it to the floor of the Knesset where Home Front Minister Matan Vilnai reminded lawmakers that rats can be a persistent foe that isn't easily defeated.