The Israeli military has officially acknowledged significant security failings during the Hamas attack on October 7, which targeted Kibbutz Be’eri, among other locations, resulting in one of the deadliest days in the country’s history. The probe’s findings, released on Thursday, paint a grim picture of unpreparedness and miscoordination that led to the tragic outcomes.
During the attack, more than 100 residents of Be’eri, a small community of about 1,000 people, were killed, and 32 were taken hostage, with 11 still remaining in Gaza. The investigation scrutinized the sequence of events and the conduct of the security forces, revealing that the military was caught off guard by the scale of the infiltration and lacked adequate forces to respond effectively.
“The IDF failed in its mission to defend the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri,” stated Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference. He detailed how the residents, vastly outnumbered, fought valiantly against the attackers and how the military’s response was hobbled by a lack of coordination and delayed awareness of the situation.
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The report also touched on a controversial incident where tank fire was directed at a house where terrorists held about 15 hostages. The military defended this action, stating that it was a response to immediate threats to the hostages’ lives, although further investigation is needed to determine the exact causes of death for the hostages inside the house.
The release of the military report was a sobering moment for the residents of Be’eri, many of whom are still displaced and grappling with the losses of that day. “I didn’t need all these details,” said Miri Gad Mesika, a member of the kibbutz. “What matters to me is why what happened happened, how we can prevent it from happening again, how we can bring back our hostages, and how we can feel secure again.”
In reaction to these revelations, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called for a state inquiry to investigate these security lapses further, advocating for accountability that extends up to the highest levels of leadership, including his own role and that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This call comes amidst Netanyahu’s reluctance to initiate such an inquiry, previously stating that assessments should wait until the war’s end.
The urgency for a state inquiry was underscored by Elam Maor, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s local security team, who shared a harrowing account of the day’s events with Channel 12. Maor recounted a critical conversation with Netanyahu at 11:00 a.m. on October 7, during which he informed the Prime Minister of the dire situation: hundreds of terrorists inside the kibbutz and the community’s desperate need for assistance. According to Maor, Netanyahu’s response was that the matter would be handled, yet additional military forces did not arrive until 1:30 p.m., leaving the kibbutz to fend for itself for hours.