From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 9, 2023
Defenders of Kibbutz Nir Am say they killed 2 terrorists Saturday, preventing takeover
Canaan Lidor is a former Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel
A failed attempt by terrorists on Saturday to enter Nir Am, a kibbutz situated some 500 yards (457 meters) away from the border with Gaza, ended with the death of two perpetrators, a local defender says.
“The terrorists appear to have tried to penetrate a large chicken farm next to Nir Am, possibly mistaking its fence for the kibbutz’s fence,” says Ami Rabin, 70, the previous security coordinator of Nir Am, who is also the uncle of his successor, Amit Rabin.
The kibbutz’s guard detail, whose members took up forward positions upon hearing gunshots, shot two of the terrorists as they entered the factory, Rabin tells The Times of Israel. Blood trails around the scene indicated a third sustained a serious injury, he adds.
“We were alert, prepared and effective, but we were also very fortunate that the thrust of the attempt to penetrate the kibbutz was poorly executed,” says Ami Rabin. None of the kibbutz’s residents was injured.
Nir Am is among the few communities that Hamas terrorists attempted to enter but were repelled. In Ein Habsor, a moshav that is also near the Gaza Strip, a handful of local defenders staved off a larger number of better armed terrorists, one resident of the moshav, Noam Gotliv, says.
“What happened to us was part alertness, part miracle,” Gotliv says, regarding the events at Ein Habsor.
