‘People were slaughtered in their homes; those who failed in IDF should resign’: Be’eri families respond to IDF probe on Oct. 7 events at kibbutz

Residential homes, severely damaged during Hamas's October 7 onslaught on southern Israel, line a street in the Olives Neighborhood of Kibbutz Be'eri on January 1, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
Residential homes, severely damaged during Hamas's October 7 onslaught on southern Israel, line a street in the Olives Neighborhood of Kibbutz Be'eri on January 1, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)

The IDF presents the results of its probe into the Hamas onslaught and battle on October 7 in the border community of Kibbutz Be’eri to the surviving residents and family members of those who were killed and abducted.

The extensive probe also investigated one of the most controversial incidents of the day, during which IDF tanks shelled the house of resident Pessi Cohen where Hamas was holding hostages. The probe will be made public later in the day.

The IDF held a presentation at one of the hotels at the Dead Sea, where displaced members of Be’eri have been staying since October 7. The army also sent individual representatives to the families of those killed in the kibbutz.

The military will also set up a website where the findings will be made publicly available, and it will be updated over time with additional investigations into the battles on October 7.

Reaction from the families following the presentation was mixed.

“The IDF acted irresponsibly regarding the Gaza border communities and the leadership needs to draw the appropriate conclusions,” Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Eli and Yossi Sharabi were taken hostage, tells Channel 12.  Yossi was later killed in captivity.

“People were slaughtered in their homes. The top command should draw conclusions and those who failed should resign,” he says.

Another resident tells the channel that the IDF probe appeared to be “serious and thorough.”

The fighting at Be’eri, one of the largest Gaza-border communities, included numerous incidents and many different Israeli units were involved. In all, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed in Be’eri — a community of around 1,000 residents — and a further 30 residents and two more civilians were taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists, 11 of whom still remain in Gaza.

Memorial for Kibbutz Be’eri’s victims of the Hamas-led October 7 assault, erected at the entrance to the David Dead Sea Resort, on Thursday June 20, 2024. (Gavriel Fiske/TOI)

The probe, carried out by Maj. Gen. (res.) Mickey Edelstein, a former commander of the Gaza Division, covers all aspects of the fighting in the kibbutz that day, including the incident at Cohen’s house.

As the IDF fought to regain control of the Gaza border communities, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of the IDF’s 99th Division, ordered a tank to fire on Cohen’s home, where terrorists were holding 14 hostages.

The tank fired two shells toward the house. Of the 14 who had been held hostage, 13 were killed in the intense firefight between Israeli troops and the Hamas terrorists. It remains unclear how many of the 13 had been harmed by the tank fire.

The probe provides a large number of details of the incident at Pessi Cohen’s house.

Before the war, Hiram was tapped to be the next commander of the Gaza Division, a move that appears to currently be on hold, subject to the results of the Be’eri investigation. Leaks to Hebrew media have said he will be largely exonerated for his conduct on the day.

The IDF hopes to present all the battle investigations by the end of August.

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