Families of Nahal Oz surveillance troops: ‘We will not forgive, we will not forget the abandonment of our daughters’

The families of the 16 surveillance soldiers killed at the Nahal Oz base on October 7 praise the heroism of their daughters on that day.

“At 6:29 a.m. three years ago when the gates of hell were opened, none of us could have imagined that the worst thing possible would occur,” says Dror Ashram, whose daughter Sgt. Shay Ashram was one of 16 surveillance soldiers killed.

“We stand here three years later and there is no forgiveness, and there never will be, for losing our girls. For the hell they went through in their final moments, for the failures, for the abandonment of them and of us. We will not forget and we will not forgive,” he says, as the families gather at a monument to the troops.

Military investigators describe the battle at the Nahal Oz base as one of the IDF’s biggest failures on October 7. In all, 53 soldiers were killed at the base: 31 combat troops and 22 noncombat, including 16 female surveillance soldiers. Another 10 were abducted — seven female surveillance soldiers and three tank soldiers.

Ashram calls for the IDF to recognize the heroism of the soldiers.

“They all, without exception, demonstrated extraordinary courage, camaraderie, determination, and steadfastness in purpose in the face of the enemy,” he says, according to Channel 12 news.

“Heroism in battle is measured in many ways. To be in the midst of hell, in mortal fear, inside a shelter breached from all sides, and to understand that these might be your final moments but still hand your phone to your friends so they can say goodbye to their parents — that is heroism.

“To calm your friends and then even your own parents, when you yourself are in terror, that is heroism.

“To throw back grenades that terrorists hurled into the shelter, when you’re barefoot, in pajamas, with bare hands, that is heroism.

“To see on the cameras the terrorists breaching the fence. And continuing to report over the radio, professionally and with cool-headedness, guiding forces to save others, that is heroism!” Ashram says.

Leading up to the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in 2023, the surveillance soldiers sent alerts about terrorists training for the attack and were infamously ignored. Some of the surveillance soldiers, many of whom are women, said sexism was a factor in their warnings being brushed aside.