‘The public is entitled to answers’ – First investigation shows IDF’s failures in battle of Be’eri on Oct 7

“The public is entitled to answers, and we must answer the most difficult and painful questions,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said as the Israeli army for the first time presented a full investigation of its failures during the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7.

“Today we presented the investigation of the battle in Be’eri,” said Hagari. “We present the investigations according to their level of readiness. This investigation is the beginning of a process.”

The conclusion of the investigation, led by the former commander of the Gaza Division, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Mickey Edelstein, was first presented to the kibbutz community and the bereaved families before being published on Thursday afternoon.

The IDF investigation showed that during the Hamas invasion, 101 civilians were murdered, 32 people were kidnapped, and 31 members of the security forces were killed in the fighting around Kibbutz Be’eri.

On that fateful morning, 340 terrorists infiltrated the Kibbutz territory led by 100 terrorists of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force, under its Nuseirat battalion.

After an hours-long battles, 100 terrorists were killed within the kibbutz, while 18 were caught and taken for questioning, and the rest escaped.

The invasion began at 6:45 a.m. from two different directions, and by 9 a.m., the kibbutz was occupied. The terrorists then began a campaign of slaughter and kidnapping that continued until around 1 p.m.

Half an hour later, the IDF began taking control of the kibbutz, but the battles lasted until 5 in the morning the next day. Kibbutz Be’eri was declared completely safe only around 3 p.m. on Oct. 8.

Several concrete failures were identified during the probe. Firstly, the people of Be’eri were left to fend for themselves for seven hours, with the local security team fighting against terrorists who had overwhelming numerical superiority, without any backup from the IDF. Until 1:30 pm, 26 Israelis fought against 340 terrorists.

One primary reason the kibbutz was overrun, is that the battalion responsible was fighting for its outposts and couldn’t send forces elsewhere. In addition, the Southern Command was not prepared for an attack of this magnitude, and didn’t have reserve forces ready.

For reasons that haven’t been made clear, significant Israeli forces gathered outside the kibbutz in the afternoon but didn’t join the fighting until later in the evening. This may correlate to the fact that the IDF’s higher ranks, specifically the Gaza Division, the Operations Directorate and the General Staff didn’t receive a detailed situational picture of what was happening on the ground. The local security team had a general overview of the situation but was not contacted by the IDF.

IDF commanders who arrived at Be’eri later reportedly decided to withdraw their forces without permission while the fighting was still going on, but there was no further explanation.

Another failure highlighted in the investigation was that, in several cases, IDF troops treated and evacuated wounded soldiers ahead of civilians.

The investigation also focused on the controversial incident at the “home of Pessi,” one of three major hostage situations during the invasion itself.

Hamas terrorists rounded up 15 civilians and brought them to the home of Pessi Cohen, holding them there as IDF troops retook the kibbutz and then surrounded the house. At this point, one of the hostages was already dead, according to the probe.

After the incident, the planned promotion of Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram, commander of the 99th Division, was frozen due to allegations he had ordered a tank to shell Cohen's home, an action that killed many of the hostages.

The probe largely exonerated Hiram, saying that most of the hostages were killed by the terrorists. Only one hostage was killed as a result of a tank shell that didn’t explode but collapsed part of the house.

Hiram and other senior commanders acted in coordination and professionalism in the face of a difficult and complex situation, according to the probe.