The report said “serious mistakes and errors” were made in the military response as Hamas occupied the community. The army was poorly prepared and did not always prioritize civilian lives. In the afternoon, the report described how Israel Defense Forces units waited nearby even as residents were killed.
“Since the afternoon, forces have been waiting outside the kibbutz and the massacre has continued,” it said. “The IDF did not fulfill its mission to protect the residents in the worst possible way and failed in its mission.”
Military officials presented these findings to the surviving members of the community at the Dead Sea resort they now call home. A total of 101 people died in Biri – a tenth of its population – when Hamas fighters from Gaza breached Israel’s high-tech border fence, taking army units by surprise.
Dozens more were taken hostage, 11 of whom have yet to be released.
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Up and down the border, gun-toting community guards and residents were fighting almost alone.
“We failed to protect the kibbutz,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari admitted as he spoke to residents. According to Israeli press reports. He noted that the IDF investigation falls short of a broader independent investigation committee, which he said “must be set up.”
Nine months after the attack, it helped Hamas-led militants launch attacks into Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip. So far, only a small number of security chiefs have resigned.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out establishing an independent commission while Israel is at war. The IDF’s internal investigations are unlikely to go very far in fulfilling the public’s demands.
“This is taken with a grain of salt,” Tamar Herman, a senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, said of the study. “People expect some kind of official inquiry committee with people who are not involved in any way.”
Although the IDF has somewhat repaired its reputation in the eyes of many Israelis during the Gaza war, anger still runs deep in Biri, he said.
“We must note that Kibbutz Beeri did not need the results of the investigation to realize the failure of the IDF every minute since 6:29 a.m. on that Black Sabbath,” the kibbutz said in a written statement. “The defeat of the army has been etched in our bodies and hearts for nine months now.”
The report described chaos on the day of the attack when about 340 fighters, including about 100 Hamas special forces Nukba fighters, entered the kibbutz.
Small IDF units that arrived at the kibbutz in the morning were “attacked” and “expelled from the community,” the report said. They stationed themselves at the gate and fought there as Hamas carried out the kidnappings.
Meanwhile, members of the kibbutz’s security team held the line against the onslaught.
“For the first seven hours of the battle, the kibbutz residents defended themselves; their actions and resourcefulness prevented the enemy from expanding the attack to additional neighborhoods,” the report said.
The investigation contributed to an understanding of the depth and complexity of the fighting in parts of Biri, the kibbutz statement said, but it said the investigation did not provide satisfactory answers to “important questions.”
Those questions include why military forces massed at the kibbutz gate for hours without entering, the underlying reasons for the intelligence failure that allowed Hamas to invade, and whether the soldiers who arrived there understood that their primary mission was to protect civilians.
Rami Gould, 70, of Piri’s security forces, who tried to stop the militants that day, said the army’s investigation yielded little new information.
“From my perspective,” he said, “what they’re saying is, ‘We’ve given up on you.'”
Hope is shattered, said Thangam, one of the few residents who returned to live in Beeri.
“The Army’s job is to convince us,” he said. “Now, not so. I trust us.”
One of the most controversial IDF decisions on October 7 was the targeting of Bessie Cohen’s home, where Hamas fighters were ambushed with 14 hostages.
Despite Israelis inside the house, Brig. General Barack Hiram, assigned to lead the fighting at Beeri that afternoon, made the decision to target the house.
The IDF concluded that the tank fire was conducted “professionally” by a joint decision of the commanders after a situational assessment to “put pressure on the terrorists and save the civilian hostages inside”.
The statement did not indicate whether Israel’s infamous Hannibal order was in effect at the time. The directive instructs troops to do anything in their power to prevent the abduction of Israelis, even at the risk of their own lives.
Haaretz newspaper reported Hannibal’s order was enacted this week on October 7, and at 11:22 a.m. the order was sent to troops that “not a single vehicle may return to Gaza.” According to the newspaper, this was one of several orders to use the order of the day.
The IDF declined to say whether such an order had been given. “These kinds of questions will be looked at at a later stage,” the IDF said on Thursday.
The attack raised broader questions — and deep concerns — among Israelis about the country’s intelligence and security capabilities. There were reports in August that an attack was imminent, but the warnings were dismissed, The Washington Post reported last year.
“You can’t just look at Biri,” said Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the research division of the IDF’s military intelligence agency. “You can’t separate that from everything that happened that terrible day.”
A majority of Israelis — about 58 percent of Jews and 81 percent of Arab citizens — think it’s time for those responsible for the October 7 debacle to resign. Israel Democracy Institute poll Done in April.
But public sentiment is increasingly polarized. Left-wing and centrist Israelis are more likely to blame Netanyahu’s government, while right-wingers point the finger at the security establishment, said Herman of the Israel Democratic Institute.
The purpose of any investigation is unclear, as is the body overseeing it, he said.
“There is no agreement on what to do, and disagreements arise over time,” he said.
Here’s what else to know
The Israeli delegation returned from Doha, Qatar on Thursday According to the Prime Minister’s Office, for further consultations after participating in the ceasefire talks. The team will proceed to Cairo in the evening for further discussions. However, in a statement released by Hamas, it said it was not a party to the latest round.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has condemned the Israeli army’s order to vacate Gaza City for all Palestinians as “absolute madness”. It is was added “The international community must demand that Israel immediately end the war,” it said, wreaking havoc and killing people. The IDF evacuation call was issued on Wednesday.
Gaza’s civil defense forces have recovered 60 bodies from the rubble of Shejaya, Gaza City. After Israeli forces retreated, among them women and children, the neighborhood, a spokesman said. Mahmoud Bassal described the area as “unlivable” following an operation that lasted several days.
At least 38,345 people have been killed and 88,295 injured since the war in Gaza began. The Gaza Ministry of Health said. It did not distinguish between civilians and militants, but said most of the dead were women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people, including more than 300 soldiers, were killed in the October 7 attack by Hamas. 325 players have been killed since the start of its military operations in Gaza.
Lear Soroka and Hazem Balusha contributed to this report.
