IDF Oct. 7 probe finds IDF failed to defend Kibbutz Gevim, terrorists failed to infiltrate kibbutz

The military singled out the efforts of the kibbutz's security coordinator for his role in preventing the terror infiltration by continuing to return fire despite being wounded.

While Hamas was unsuccessful in its attempt to infiltrate Kibbutz Gevim during the October 7 massacre, the military failed in its mission to defend the kibbutz, according to the IDF’s findings released on Tuesday.

The army’s probe found that the kibbutz’s emergency standby squad operated “optimally” throughout the events, which allowed for the continued defense of the kibbutz until organized military forces arrived on October 8.

Singling out the efforts of the kibbutz’s security coordinator, the IDF said that he was able to return fire against the terrorists trying to infiltrate the kibbutz, disrupting their efforts, despite being severely wounded.

The investigation noted that a group of eight Hamas terrorists had attacked the kibbutz.

However, faced with these disruptions, they redirected, continuing their massacre along Highway 34 and in Yachini instead.

As for the kibbutz’s emergency standby squad, it was able to provide the commander of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion with ammunition, guidance, and escort outside Kibbutz Gevim’s fence, including rescuing civilians from a nearby gas station, which the probe highlighted as noteworthy.

In addition, the team, along with other kibbutz residents, provided medical care and evacuated wounded individuals, which likely played a key role in saving lives.

The military found that most residents of Kibbutz Gevim evacuated their homes independently, rather than as part of a coordinated evacuation effort.

As the kibbutz is located within a range of 0-4 kilometers of the Gaza security perimeter, the investigation recommends that it should be allocated means and resources similar to those of every community with this status.

The military noted that it is not possible to precisely reconstruct what occurred at the kibbutz's perimeter fence, as there are no cameras in the community's defense installations.

The probe found that the kibbutz's emergency response team had 20 members, with 16 weapons in its possession. At the time the massacre began, most of the weapons were stored in the armory. The exceptions were the personal weapons of the security coordinator, his deputy, and three team members.

October 7-8 timeline of events near and in Kibbutz Gevim

Phase 1: Starting time of the attack as the terrorists head to the kibbutz to attempt infiltration (from 6:29 a.m. until 7:25 a.m.)

Red Alert sirens were sounded across the country at 6:29 a.m. as the massacre began.

At approximately 6:58 a.m., terrorists were moving in the area of the industrial factories of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, which are located near Gevim.

At 7:10 a.m., the kibbutz’s security coordinator instructed his deputy to come to the perimeter gate due to the complexity of the situation.

At 7:13 a.m., the deputy sent a WhatsApp message to emergency standby squad members, warning them of the complexities of the unfolding event and ordering them to retrieve their weapons.

At 7:21 a.m., a detail of eight terrorists riding in a pickup truck passed the Sha’ar Hanegev junction, heading toward Kibbutz Gevim.

At 7:22, the terrorists tried to break into the gas station near the kibbutz – unsuccessfully.

By 7:25, these Nukhba terrorists had reached the kibbutz guard post and attempted to infiltrate it.

Phase 2: Battle at the kibbutz perimeter gate (from 7:25 a.m. until 7:28 a.m.)

At approximately 7:15 a.m., the kibbutz’s security coordinator went on patrol, driving along the kibbutz’s perimeter road. When he reached the area by the guard post, terrorists opened fire on him from the direction of the perimeter fence.

The security coordinator retreated slightly from that point, exited the vehicle, and returned fire. He was wounded in the firefight.

While this was occurring, he reported the encounter with the terrorists to his deputy, as well as to the deputy security coordinator of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. The kibbutz deputy moved toward the point of contact with the terrorists and directed the emergency standby squad to the kibbutz’s main gate.

At 7:26 a.m., an operations officer from the IDF Home Front Command’s Southern District, who was a resident of the kibbutz, left their home and headed to the guard post. They were hit by terrorist gunfire.

A minute later, one of the kibbutz’s residents drove toward the guard post and was also hit by terrorist gunfire. At the same time, Hamas threw a grenade at this same resident.

At 7:28 a.m., the terrorists left the kibbutz perimeter gate area, en route to Yachini instead.

At 7:29, the terrorists, while on Highway 34, opened fire on a vehicle belonging to a resident of the kibbutz, wounding him. The resident continued to drive and successfully entered Kibbutz Gevim.

At 7:30, the deputy security coordinator, along with a kibbutz resident, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Gil Shwarsman arrived at the kibbutz’s main gate.

Then, at approximately 7:33 a.m., members of the kibbutz’s emergency standby squad were instructed to take up defensive positions in the kibbutz.

From this point onward, Shwarsman took command of the emergency standby squad and served as security coordinator for the kibbutz for the duration of the massacre.

Phase 3: Combating the terrorists on Highway 34 and in Yachini (07:40 a.m. until 10:40 a.m.)

At 7:40 a.m., 11 members of the standby squad had taken positions at five locations around the kibbutz and remained there to carry out defensive missions throughout the day. Additionally, a team began patrolling the area.

At 7:55 a.m., the deputy security coordinator sent a message to all remaining unarmed members of the emergency standby squad, instructing them to proceed to the kibbutz armory to arm themselves.

At 8:04, terrorists reached Yachini and split into two groups; one group stayed in Yachini, and the other fled in a stolen vehicle that drove in the direction of fields north of the community.

At 8:09, the terrorist squadron set up an ambush along Highway 34 between Gevim and Yachini.

At 8:11, terrorists murdered two civilians who were fleeing from the Nova music festival.

At 8:14 a.m., Sgt. Amit Guetta, from the Maglan special commando unit, located and identified a terrorist ambush on the highway, making a U-turn to thwart them. Guetta was critically wounded by the terrorists and succumbed to his wounds.

Subsequently, and until around 10:40, the rest of the terrorists were killed during several separate encounters by the police’s Counterterrorism Unit (Yamam), an officer from the police’s Yoav Unit, and security guards from a nearby municipal security unit.

Additional security personnel, as well as armed civilians, also assisted in the fighting along both the highway and in Yachini.

Phase 4: Arrival of additional defense forces and rescue of civilians at a nearby gas station (10:30 a.m. on Oct. 7 until 4 p.m. on Oct. 8)

At approximately 10:30 a.m., the commander of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, Lt.-Col. Tomer Grinberg arrived at the gate of the kibbutz.

Simultaneously, emergency standby squad members provided ammunition magazines to Grinberg, escorting him and his team to Gevim junction. Grinberg’s objective was to reach Kibbutz Kfar Aza via open fields.

Upon reaching Gevim junction, they saw a hostile vehicle driving in an open field and opened fire at it.

At 12:00 p.m., two vehicles carrying members of the emergency standby squad left the kibbutz, striving to reach the nearby gas station in order to rescue 12 civilians who were sheltered in a protected room there.

In addition, other members of the squad were deployed to staff the kibbutz’s guard posts.

Furthermore, a couple of squad members scanned the kibbutz area, going from house to house to aid residents as much as possible.

Fighting continued to rage on Highway 34 and in the open fields surrounding the kibbutz throughout October 7, the probe noted.

At 6 p.m., a group of soldiers from the air force’s Shaldag special forces unit arrived at the gas station near the kibbutz to prepare for further deployment. When they neared the Gevim junction, the group exited their vehicles, hearing gunfire.

By and by, a group of officers from a Border Police tactical unit, which was moving in the area, was searching for a location to conduct a briefing and arrived at the guard post, where they met Shwarsman.

He then informed the group of police officers that members of the kibbutz’s standby squad, who were covering positions along the kibbutz perimeter fence, had identified suspicious activity on a nearby hill between Highway 34 and the kibbutz.

Following this data, in his role as security coordinator, Shwarsman split the tactical unit of officers at approximately 6:10 p.m. Some of them moved toward the observation point, while others began a flanking maneuver directed at the nearby hill.

The police conducted a sweep, including the use of live fire, to target the points where the suspicious movements were identified. These actions were carried out in coordination with the air force’s Shaldag and the rest of the tactical unit.

On October 8, at about 4 p.m., an organized military force arrived to defend the kibbutz. Until that time, the kibbutz’s defense was based mainly on the emergency standby squad.

Residents who had not already evacuated by this point received evacuation assistance from IDF soldiers who arrived that afternoon.

During subsequent searches of the area, security personnel discovered foreign workers. One of them was found wounded, and the other was found dead.

Additionally, live terrorists, as well as the bodies of those who were successfully killed, were located in the following days in the areas surrounding Gevim, Yachini, and other parts of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council.

This led to additional clashes between security forces and the remaining terrorists.