IDF Releases Findings on Why Oct. 7 Mass Slaughter Wasn’t Stopped
The Israel Defense Forces’ new report includes its findings from a military probe into some of the failings on Oct. 7, presenting them initially to residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the worst-hit communities on that “Black Sabbath.”
The specially convened presentation took place at a Dead Sea hotel, where internally displaced refugees have been staying since their homes were largely destroyed by Hamas terrorists. While providing some answers, the probe left significant questions hanging, and the report neither assuaged some of the community’s pent-up fury amid its ongoing trauma, nor did it restore trust in the army. There are those who wonder aloud whether that sacred bond between the IDF – a largely conscript army – and the people, particularly those who felt bereft and abandoned on Oct. 7, will ever be fully repaired. It was more than just 1,200 people Hamas terrorists annihilated that day; they also damaged – perhaps irreparably – the “stickiness” that helps hold Israeli society together. . .
The IDF has finalized its presentation of the operational inquiry regarding the battle of Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7 and first days of the war.
To read the full operational inquiry, click the link below: https://t.co/qIS9FNiQrF
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 11, 2024
The investigators spent hundreds of hours sifting through residents’ WhatsApp messages, reviewing both Israeli and Hamas radio communications, checking surveillance footage and aerial reconnaissance, as well as interviewing survivors and those who fought in the battle to save the kibbutz and its residents. Supplemental intelligence was also gathered from interrogating captured Hamas terrorists.
However, several critical questions – and ones that may not get resolved without a full commission of inquiry – were left unanswered.
These include why military forces did not enter the kibbutz for several hours – despite the desperate pleas of those trapped behind its yellow sliding electric gate. This issue seemed to be partly explained by the fact that although defenders did arrive in numbers, nobody took overall command of the kibbutz’s defense. And certainly nobody decided to go in at once and attempt to take out the Hamas fighters. This was not expressly said, but the general chaos of hundreds of terrorists swarming around – with dead bodies liberally scattered across roads and fields – added to the confusion. More than 100 civilians and 31 security personnel were slain at the kibbutz, which had a pre-invasion population of about 1,000, while 30 other residents and two additional civilians were kidnapped to Gaza. Eleven of them remain in captivity. At one point, the attackers outnumbered the defenders by 340 to 26.
The IDF has released its findings from the Be'eri Massacre probe.
At 1:30 pm on October 7, the IDF was outnumbered by Hamas terrorists 340 to 26 in the Kibbutz. Residents were left to fend for themselves through the morning, and brave soldiers rushed in to do all they could to… pic.twitter.com/CQSJY6GRa3
— Eli Kowaz – איליי קואז (@elikowaz) July 11, 2024
(Read more from “IDF Releases Findings on Why Oct. 7 Mass Slaughter Wasn’t Stopped” HERE)
Photo credit: Flickr
