Daily Briefing Apr. 30: Day 572 – IDF commanders who sacrificed themselves to save recruits

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror.

Since February, the IDF has been releasing a series of probes into the disasters on and leading up to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre of some 1,200 people and the abduction of 251.

Today, we look at the recent reports on the battles at the Zikim IDF base — notable for the bravery of its commanders in saving their recruits — and two small communities, Nir Yitzhak and Ein Hashlosha.

Despite being vastly outnumbered, Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s well-armed civil defense squad fought off dozens of Hamas-led terrorists, largely preventing them from rampaging through the community on October 7.

This is in stark opposition to what happened at Ein Hashlosha, another community near the Gaza border. Fabian fills us in.

The conversation can also be viewed here:

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Commanders battled terrorists, saving 100 rookies at Zikim training base on Oct. 7

Outgunned, outnumbered Ein Hashlosha security team failed to resist Oct. 7 onslaught

Nir Yitzhak security team resisted terrorists on Oct. 7, preventing murderous rampage

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch.

Check out yesterday’s Daily Briefing episode here: