IDF Report: Israeli Armed Forces Totally Fail to Protect Citizens on October 7, 2023

The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) were caught by surprise and totally unprepared to quickly intervene to defend Jewish citizens in kibbutzim on the Gaza border against Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, according to a first report published by the IDF on the attack on the community in Kibbutz Be'eri, document cited by the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post.

According to the report, on the morning of October 7, 2023, hundreds of Hamas terrorists attacked Kibbutz Be'eri, in what would become one of the worst attacks on a single local community. The people living in that kibbutz were left to fend for themselves for hours as the Israeli armed forces were surprised by the concerted attack by Hamas on dozens of Israeli settlements, acted in total disarray and failed to rescue them on their own citizens, while the terrorists operated in every house, kidnapping, brutalizing and massacring civilians, their action continuing until the afternoon of that day. As a result of the massacre, 101 civilians and 31 security and guard personnel were killed in Kibbutz Be'eri - a community of approximately 1,000 inhabitants. 32 people were taken hostage by Hamas from that town, 11 of whom are still in Gaza. At least 125 houses in the town were damaged and destroyed by Hamas fighters.

After hundreds of hours of investigation, reviewing every source of information, analyzing residents' WhatsApp messages and Hamas radio communications, viewing surveillance footage and interviewing survivors of the massacre, it emerged that the IDF "failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be'eri" because the Israeli armed forces were not prepared for such an event, which resulted in the terrorists capturing an entire Israeli settlement. The report notes that the IDF had been training for "one-off incursions" and as a result its forces were deployed in such a way that there were no troops that could be sent to Be'eri amid the full-scale attack. The investigation found that the army had difficulty building a clear picture by afternoon of what was happening in Be'eri, despite the fact that the local security team provided information about the fighting that began in the early hours of the mornings. It also found that the security authorities did not send Be'eri residents adequate warning of the attack.

Furthermore, the IDF had difficulty commanding and controlling the situation in the first hours of the battle in Be'eri, as there was no coordination of the soldiers in the area, who were not even ordered to fight Hamas terrorists, but only to support the evacuation of the wounded . Basically, the residents of the kibbutz had to defend themselves for several hours and try to reduce the loss of life following the attack by Hamas fighters. The report notes that in the first 7 hours of the attack, against the 340 Hamas terrorists (100-120 members of Hamas' elite Nukhba force, 50-70 additional Hamas operatives and approximately 100-150 members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) only 26 people from that kibbutz fought, the IDF troops arriving late. Following the IDF intervention, 100 terrorists were killed and 18 were captured.

General Herzi Halevi, the head of the IDF, said that this first report "clearly illustrates the extent of the failure and the dimensions of the disaster that the residents of southern Israel went through who protected their families with their bodies for many hours, and the Israeli forces did not was there to protect them". He said further investigations will provide a more complete picture of the attack and allow the IDF to draw operational conclusions that will be implemented immediately.

The IDF stated that it will create a website where the reports on the investigations carried out will be publicly available, the website will be updated over time with additional investigations into the fighting on October 7, 2023. According to the Israeli army, on that day 40 localities were recorded where there were fights with Hamas fighters, and for each of these localities an investigation is underway, which will be published when it is completed and not simultaneously with all the others. The IDF hopes to present all investigations by the end of August.