School in Oct. 7-scarred Ofakim holds unannounced terror drill on attack’s anniversary
Parents say simulated infiltration shocked elementary-aged children, some of whom are recognized as victims of hostile acts during onslaught; Education Ministry calls timing 'inappropriate'
An elementary school in the city of Ofakim, near the Gaza border, held an unannounced drill simulating a terrorist infiltration on the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, unsettling students still grappling with the trauma of the onslaught and sparking outrage among their parents, Hebrew media reported Thursday.
The exercise at the southern city’s Gvanim elementary school took place Wednesday, according to the Channel 12 news outlet, exactly three years after Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through the Gaza envelope, including Ofakim.
Students told the network they were locked in classrooms with the lights turned off and instructed to hide under desks, while some reported hearing banging on doors. Others said someone shouted “terrorist with a knife” in the hallway, though the school administration denied that allegation.
Hofit Asayag, head of the school’s parents’ committee and mother of two students there, said both her children are recognized as victims of hostile acts that took place on October 7.
Before the drill began, her fifth-grade son, who receives emotion-focused therapy, asked his teacher to erase the day’s date from the board because it upset him, which she did. He later also had an outburst unrelated to the exercise, but still took part in the drill that afternoon, Asayag told Channel 12.
Other children vomited or refused to emerge from under their desks after the exercise concluded, she said. One girl was afraid a terrorist would attack while she was at a supermarket with her mother after school, while another stayed home the following day.
“The problem is, of course, not just the date — the date added considerably to the shock,” Asayag said. “The problem is how the drill was carried out. Someone thought to make it dramatic, too, by banging on doors and turning off the lights. There is also the terrible fact that parents were informed only afterward, with complete disregard for the fact that a very high percentage of the children are recognized as victims of hostile acts from October 7.”
The Education Ministry said “unusual elements” reported by students did not occur, but did not elaborate.
It said the exercise’s timing, held without advance notice to parents, was “inappropriate given the sensitivity of the date.”
“The matter was clarified with the school administration to prevent similar incidents from recurring,” the ministry said.
Parents were seeking emotional support for students affected by the drill as well as a disciplinary review of the school administration, Channel 12 reported.
Asayag said school principals across Ofakim had been instructed to hold the drill, but the other schools decided against doing so on October 7. Gvanim was the only one to proceed.
The school apologized for choosing the date, according to Channel 12, while the municipality called the move “a human error and a lapse in judgment” by the school administration. It ordered all schools to suspend the drill pending a review.