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

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, 2023, according to an Israel Defense Forces probe published Friday.

The community avoided the worst of the day’s massacres, with no civilians murdered. Still, the terrorists managed to abduct five civilians, along with the bodies of three local security officers who were killed in battle.

In all, six members of Nir Yitzhak’s 13-strong local security team were killed, including its chief, Yaron Shahar, 51, and members Tal Haimi, 41, Oren Goldin, 33, Boaz Abraham, 61, Lior Rudaeff, 61, and Ofek Arazi, 28.

The bodies of Goldin, Rudaeff, and Haimi were taken by the terrorists to Gaza. The IDF recovered Goldin’s body in July 2024.

Hostages Gabriela Leimberg, 59, her daughter Mia, 17, and her sister Clara Marman, 62, were released in a November 2023 ceasefire with Hamas.

Marmans’s partner Norberto Louis Har, 70, and her and Leimberg’s brother Fernando Marman, 60, were rescued from Hamas captivity by Israeli special forces in February 2024.

The IDF probe into the attack on Nir Yitzhak found that the army showed up to secure the community far too late, after the last terrorists had already left and returned to the Gaza Strip.

The findings published Friday are the latest in a series of detailed investigations into some 40 battles and massacres that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when about 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, killed some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages into Gaza, where dozens remain captive.

Similar to other investigations, the probe concluded that the IDF “failed in its mission to protect” the residents of Nir Yitzhak, mainly because the military never prepared for such an event: an Israeli community being attacked by terrorists, as well as a widespread attack on numerous towns and army bases simultaneously by thousands of terrorists. The military also lacked an intelligence warning, and therefore, troops were unprepared for Hamas’s attack.

The probe into what happened at Nir Yitzhak, carried out by Col. Eylon Peretz — commander of the Yoav Regional Brigade — covered all aspects of the fighting in the kibbutz and surrounding area.

The IDF said the investigators made visits to the scene and reviewed every possible source of information, including footage taken by terrorists with body-mounted cameras, residents’ text messages, surveillance videos, army radio communications and interviews with survivors.

Peretz and his team spent hundreds of hours investigating the attack on Nir Yitzhak, a community of around 600.

The Nir Yitzhak probe was aimed at drawing specific operational conclusions for the military. It did not examine the wider picture of the military’s perception of Gaza and Hamas in recent years, which has been covered in separate, larger investigations into the IDF’s intelligence and defenses.

The probe found that the kibbutz’s civil defense squad “prevented and disrupted the plans by the terrorists to hurt and abduct members of the kibbutz” during the first and second waves of terrorists. However, after six members of the team were killed, alongside a third wave of infiltrators, their acts “were less effective.”

All 13 members of the local security team were armed with assault rifles and military gear, including communication devices. One armed civilian, Mario David Barak, also joined the team during the fighting.

The investigation team also highlighted an order by Maj. Roey Chapell — a company commander in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, who was stationed at a nearby army post on October 7 — to send a tank to the border at the start of the onslaught.

The tank crew played a critical role by firing 40 shells at one of the breaches in Israel’s border barrier — just across from Nir Yitzhak — through which terrorists were streaming into Israel. The tank team destroyed at least 10 Hamas pickup trucks and killed well over 100 terrorists, “significantly reducing the intensity of the attack on the kibbutz,” according to the investigation

Chapell also ordered a patrol to head for Nir Yitzhak, but it was caught up fighting just outside Kibbutz Sufa and was unable to reach the community. Chapell himself was killed while battling terrorists in the Sufa area.

Of the estimated 90 terrorists who infiltrated Nir Yitzhak, just one was killed inside the kibbutz, according to the investigation.

IDF troops were unable to reach the community until the last of the terrorists had left, as the major highways in the area were blocked by the terrorists, and the Gaza Division’s command and control had entirely collapsed.

Timeline of the attack

At 6:29 a.m., Hamas launched an initial barrage of over 1,000 rockets at Israel, mostly aimed at Israeli military bases.

At 6:41 a.m., terrorists breached through the Gaza border just across from Nir Yitzhak and headed toward the kibbutz. At the same time, Maj. Chapell ordered a patrol to head for Nir Yitzhak and for the tank to head for the border.

At 6:48 a.m., Nir Yitzhak’s local security team was alerted and began to take up their positions.

At 7:30 a.m., Goldin headed for the kibbutz’s main entrance, where he was killed in an exchange of fire with the terrorists.

At 7:33 a.m., the first 15 terrorists, from Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, breached into the kibbutz on foot via the main gate.

Hamas terrorists attack Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, 2023. (South First Responders)

The terrorists did not advance too far into the community. They stayed near the entrance, where they set fire to plastic pipes outside a factory.

At 8:20 a.m., Rudaeff and Haimi arrived at the entrance searching for Goldin. The chief of the security team, Shahar, and another member, Arnon Peled, also joined them, and they found Goldin’s body.

A short while later, Peled and Shahar headed back into the kibbutz following reports of a rocket impact, while Rudaeff and Haimi remained at the entrance.

At 8:30 a.m., Arazi and Abraham took up stations at the back entrance to the kibbutz.

At 9:06 a.m., a group of 25 more terrorists on a pickup truck and seven motorcycles arrived at the kibbutz.

At 9:07 a.m., one of the terrorists jumped over the community’s fence and exchanged fire with Rudaeff.

At 9:13 a.m., terrorists tried to abduct the body of Goldin, but withdrew after coming under fire from Rudaeff and Haimi.

At 9:18, Rudaeff and Haimi were wounded in an exchange of fire with the terrorists at the entrance and withdrew further back into the kibbutz.

At 9:20 a.m., Barak, the armed civilian, was wounded fighting the terrorists near the entrance.

At 9:25 a.m., Abraham, who left the back entrance with Arazi, exchanged fire with terrorists just south of the main entrance and was killed.

At 9:40 a.m., Arazi and Shahar were killed fighting the terrorists nearby.

At that point, members of the local security team realized they were no longer effective, with those still alive returning to their homes to defend from there.

At 9:56, terrorists from the first two waves left the kibbutz and returned to Gaza for unknown reasons.

At 10:00 a.m., some 50 terrorists, including unaffiliated Palestinians, entered the community. The terrorists entered 32 homes, where they looted valuables.

At 10:06 a.m., terrorists abducted the body of Goldin, placing it on the back of a motorcycle and taking it to Gaza.

At 11:04 a.m., terrorists entered the Marman family home, taking the five hostages, some of them on the back of a pickup truck and some on foot.

At 11:30 a.m., terrorists broke into the home of an elderly couple, Moshe and Diana Rosen, and tried to abduct them. Both were wounded and were taken by the terrorists to the border fence. However, the couple managed to convince the terrorists to let them go.

At 11:50 a.m., a combat helicopter opened fire at terrorists outside the kibbutz.

At 11:54 a.m., terrorists abducted the body of Rudaeff using a car stolen from the community.

The body of Haimi was abducted at an unknown time.

By 1:28 p.m., the last terrorist left Nir Yitzhak and headed back to Gaza.

The first IDF troops to arrive at the Kibbutz, from the elite LOTAR unit, also known as the military’s counter-terror school, did so at 1:32 p.m. The troops were sent there by the chief of operations at the Gaza Division.

At 1:45 p.m., troops from the elite Eilat Counterterrorism Unit, known in Hebrew as LOTAR Eilat, arrived at Nir Yitzhak after being ordered there by the deputy chief of the 80th Edom Regional Division, Peretz, the lead investigator.

At 2:30 p.m., a squad of troops from the Duvdevan commando unit arrived by helicopter at the kibbutz, though it is unclear who ordered them there.

At 3 p.m., following searches, the community was declared clear of terrorists.

By 8 p.m., all civilians were evacuated from Nir Yitzhak.