A preliminary inquiry by the Israeli military into events at Be’eri Kibbutz, one of the first communities to come under attack on Oct. 7, concluded the army had failed in its basic duty to protect the residents due to a combination of strategic unpreparedness and poor tactical coordination on the ground. File Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
The Israeli military failed in its duty to protect the residents of one of the first kibbutzes to come under attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 due to a combination of strategic unpreparedness and poor tactical coordination on the ground, an interim internal probe has concluded.
The report on Be’eri where 132 civilians and service personnel were killed and 32 taken hostage, the first of a series of Israel Defense Forces investigations released Thursday, found the army “failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri” by not providing sufficient warning and leaving members of the 1,000-strong community to fend for themselves for hours before sending help. Advertisement
Because the military had only trained for lone events and not for a major attack by a large force targeting many communities and army bases simultaneously, its forces were deployed in a way that meant there were no troops on hand to dispatch to Be’eri, the probe said. Advertisement
In other failures, amid the chaos, when Israeli troops did arrive they remained massed outside Be’eri and did not engage with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants rampaging through the kibbutz while others prioritized rescuing wounded soldiers over civilians, the IDF said, acknowledging that these decisions were colossal mistakes.
“It is painful and difficult for me to say this: the IDF should have protected the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, but unfortunately we were not there during the long hours of the fighting,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press briefing.
“For seven hours the residents of Be’eri protected their families with their bodies, when they were alone in front of the terrorists. It was the extraordinary bravery and resourcefulness of the residents that led to the stabilization of a defensive line during the first hours of fighting, stopping the attack from spreading to the rest of the kibbutz.
“Along with the emergency squad, the members of the local emergency team also acted bravely, directing the forces, forming an operational situation and helping the residents.”
However, the inquiry defended as “professional and responsible” the controversial decision by the commander on the ground that day, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, to shell a house where Hamas fighters were holding 14 hostages, killing at least one civilian and injuring a second. Advertisement
Hagari said the shelling was aimed at enabling Israeli forces to storm the house, although only two survived the eventual rescue bid with the remainder most likely killed by their captors.
Hagari stressed that the investigation had been carried out as quickly as possible in order to provide answers to residents, families of the deceased and the abducted — and to enable the IDF to take action to correct its fighting and defense methods immediately.
“This investigation is not the end of a process, it is the beginning,” he pledged.
Survivors and relatives who were briefed earlier welcomed the apparent transparency the IDF had demonstrated but criticized the inquiry for failing to investigate alternative courses of action its troops and commanders such as General Hiram could have taken. Others called for an independent state inquiry.
“The government brought about this situation, and they must be held to account,” said Rami Gold, a member of the Be’eri civilian response squad.
His call was echoed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who said that getting to the bottom of what happened on Oct. 7 and then implementing the right measures to correct the failings was “necessary for our continued existence.”
“To this end, we are required to investigate at the national level in order to rebuild public trust — this is a condition for our ability to carry out our tasks,” he said in a video posted on X. Advertisement
