Oorlog Israël - Hamas - Palestina #125

Adar will no longer argue with her twin brother over the car keys, when she returns home from her base. The bowl of homemade tahini accompanied by fries and a Coke will no longer be waiting for her in the kitchen. Yannai won’t be sitting by the piano, improvising melodies on the spot, having adamantly refused to learn to read music. He won’t demolish anyone who dares to take him on at ping-pong. Or won’t be flying again to Madrid, where she would root for Real Madrid in the El Clasico against Barça. Nor will she study medicine, as she had planned. Omri won’t continue to watch “Fast and Furious,” his favorite movie, over and over. He won’t score another three-pointer from his spot on the Hapoel Givatayim court.

Neria won’t serve glasses of raspberry drink to the workers at the construction-materials store where he worked, to “sweeten” their break. The songs he sang, a blend of liturgical music and the hits of Omer Adam, will never again be heard around the Shabbat table. Eden will not be dancing again with her girlfriends from the troupe in the southern Sharon area. She will not have to figure out what to do regarding her big dilemma: whether to continue to an officers course on behalf of her unit or to make a stab at getting into the pilots course. Adir won’t be showing up again at the base on Sundays with a stack of orange cookies baked by his mom. Never again will he win first place in FIFA’s online tournament.

They were seven. Six commanding officers and one new recruit, who bodily – in the most literal sense of the word – prevented Hamas’ takeover of the Zikim training base on that very black Sabbath two weeks ago. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with them were seven other army personnel, who survived after suffering wounds of varying degrees of severity. These 14 people faced off against some 50 terrorists who had scattered among three bases in their sector. The other two bases were overrun, amid serious losses of Israeli life. But the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command’s search and rescue brigade at Zikim were able to hold out against the surprise attackers.

They fought a heroic battle. Blood-soaked, under overwhelming fire, while pulling out their fallen comrades and taking their places, the group repelled three squads of terrorists who assaulted soldiers manning the base’s three main positions. The terrorists came by both land and sea, equipped with ammunition that at times looked as though it would never run out. “A disproportionate amount of artillery per terrorist,” as one of the fighters put it.

After some 50 minutes of nonstop shooting, the terrorists were vanquished. But at a steep price. When the details of the battle began to emerge, the scale of the horror – and the heroism – became clear. More than 90 new recruits who had been drafted just two months earlier and had been sent by their commanders to shelter in protected spaces in Zikim when the invasion began, were unharmed. Around 30 administrative staffers and civilians were also safe. The base commander, Lt. Col. Shay, told Haaretz that the investigation of what went on during the morning of October 7 has only just started, but its general outlines are already clear.

“The staff personnel took command, charged forward and took control of the event – all in the face of brutal scenes,” Lt. Col. Shay says. “In fact, they saw almost their whole staff unit go down. It was clear to them that they were the last line of defense against a horrific massacre. And it wasn’t only their new recruits who managed to survive, thanks to them. If the encounter with the terrorists hadn’t happened here, they would have blasted their way to the civilians in Kibbutz Zikim, Kibbutz Karmia, Ashkelon and maybe even further north.”

The Zikim base was known in the past as a facility serving new recruits for the IDF’s administrative units; today, however, it’s the base for training the Home Front’s search and rescue brigade. These full-fledged combat personnel are dispatched in emergencies to flashpoints, while in routine times one of their tasks is to hold a line in the northern West Bank. This is a coed brigade, in which women volunteer for service that lasts 30 months (rather than the usual 24 months for women). Lt. Col. Shay was appointed base commander just two months ago.

“On paper it’s a calm sort of job, non-operational, at a training and instruction base,” he says about what he does at Zikim, which is located near the beach, eight kilometers south of Ashkelon. “Although you are prepared for any scenario, you don’t expect anything like what happened to us that Shabbat. I’ve served for 16 years in the army, always in combat units in all the country’s sectors, and I always made sure that my fighters, men and women, made it home in the end. This was something I’d never witnessed before. I will carry the event that took place in Zikim with me to the grave. Incredible daring, incredible combat – and such great sadness among the bereaved families. But one thing I do know: Their sons and daughters prevented a far greater disaster.”

The Zikim base did not fall but seven of its fighters did, while defending it. This is their story.

Chapter 1

Saturday, October 7, 6:30 A.M. The tongues of fire and steel sent from Gaza toward communities in southern Israel shook the Zikim base. Until that moment it had been a routine Shabbat. The Tavor company was guarding the base at the end of the week-long Sukkot festival, and its latest recruits were deployed in pairs along the perimeter fence. A heavy barrage of rockets suddenly unhinged their routine. The staff personnel were roused out of bed and at the order of the company commander, Capt. Adir Abudi, rushed to their positions, taking over for the new soldiers and sending them to the two secure areas in the base, one for men and one for women. Elana Kaminka, who lost her son Yannai – the commander of the new recruits platoon – learned what was happening in those minutes from a conversation she later had during the shivah for her son with the father of one of the female recruits (who survived).

“She was at a ‘beach’ position and phoned her father in tears and trembling with fear,” Elana Kaminka relates. “The father told us that during the call he heard Yannai’s voice – he had approached the soldier at her position and told her to retreat, and she was extremely frightened. Immediately afterward the call was cut off.”

Zahava Ben Simon, whose daughter Adar was one of the other officers who fell in the battle for Zikim, adds, “One of the female recruits filmed her as she got organized and put on her uniform in the protected space that morning. Adar was very clear in her orders: Stay here and don’t move.”

At 6:36, Abudi issued an update via the staff’s WhatsApp group: “Green.” That meant that all the positions were manned by officers. The new recruits were safe. All was in order.

Nine minutes passed. The sounds of gunfire from the adjacent bases indicated to the personnel stationed at Zikim that rockets in the sky were apparently not their main threat. At 6:45, Abudi wrote: “There’s too much shooting around here!!! Call all the positions and make sure we don’t have instance of penetration of the base.”

Yannai Kaminka didn’t yet know that he himself would be swept into the hostilities. His concern was for the mental resilience of his troops. “Calm the soldiers down,” he requested a minute later, in a WhatsApp message. “They are really stressed out.” At 6:50 Abudi ordered the defensive alignment at all positions to be beefed up.

News flashes reporting that a broad offensive was apparently underway among communities in the south, found their way into the WhatsApp messages of the staff personnel. Minutes later they themselves encountered it.

At 7:19, one of the fighters reported that terrorists had now penetrated the base from the sea. The first clash occurred at 7:31 at a different site, known as Position 6. A fighter was shot in the arm there. “CompMed [the company paramedic, a woman in this case] urgently to Position 6,” company commander Abudi requested in a WhatsApp message – and added six exclamation marks. “Now run. A terrorist is on us here at the fence.” For his part, Kaminka continued to look after his new recruits. “Anyone who’s not doing anything can calm the soldiers [the new recruits] down,” he wrote. He stuck to this line even after learning that one of his buddies had been hit. “Leave a staff person with the soldiers, whoever is free should reinforce.”

A third position, that of the sentries at the base’s firing range, was manned by three female officers: 2nd Lt. Adar Ben Simon, Sgt. Eden Levy and Sgt. Ron.

“We executed all the rotations and were then informed that nine terrorists were running toward us,” Sgt. Ron recalled this week in a conversation with Haaretz. “Within minutes I identify two of them, who open fire at us from a range of 50 meters. We return fire. Grenades are thrown at us. One of them fell at the fence and the other was a direct hit on the position. We all bent down, and when I tried to stand up again, I took a bullet to the head.” At 7:30 Ron reported via the wireless: “We’re under fiiire!” At 7:44 she wrote again, “I’ve been hit,” and added, “Evacuation.” Two minutes later Ben Simon also posted an urgent message: “Evacuation for Ron. Somebody get here already.” Sgt. Noa, who rushed to reinforce the position, was also shot at that point. “Noa hit at firing range,” one of the fighters reported. At 7:51 he added: “We have two wounded here.”

Ron, though bleeding from her own wound, noticed that the sergeant’s condition was far worse. “Urgent,” she wrote. “Noa is the most critical. Not sure there’s a pulse.” In our conversation, Ron explained, “In my case, the bullet entered from behind, sliced into the scalp and fortunately stopped at the front of the helmet. When I moved back two steps I saw that Noa was hurt really badly. In the meantime I gave my gun to Eden Levy, who went on returning fire, and Yannai [Kaminka] showed up to replace me. If he hadn’t come then, I probably wouldn’t be talking with you today.”

Ron was evacuated to the rear. Sgt. Noa was evacuated to one of the command rooms adjacent to a secure area; her place was taken by Omri Niv , the company’s operational driver. At 7:56 his friends back home in Givatayim sent a message asking how he was. “I’m fighting,” Omri replied.

During evacuations under heavy fire, the scale and intensity of the terrorist attack on the new recruits base began to become clear. Or Moses, the deputy company commander, under Abudi, who was then engaged in combat to prevent the takeover of Position 6, pleaded in a broken WhatsApp message: “Someone ... bring ... a stretcher. Nowww.”

Chapter 2

The rocket barrage at 6:30 A.M. caught Zikim’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Shay, at home in the nearby city of Sderot, with his wife and their three children. “I’m already used to situations like these, so I rushed the family into the secure room,” he relates now. “The number of rockets being fired was the first hint that this was a different sort of event. I called the base to make sure everything was in order, and it turned out that a pretty insane volley had been fired there, too. That set off a red light. I spoke with Adir [Abudi], who arranged the rotations at the guard positions and reported ‘Green.’”

Between one air-raid siren and the next, Shay was able to collect his weapon and take a quick glance out the kitchen window. “What was happening there was something I had never seen in my life: Two vans packed with terrorists shooting in all directions, indiscriminately. They’re off-loading themselves from the vehicles, blocking off the neighborhood and simply massacring innocent people. My neighbors had gone out for a morning jog. I know all of them. At first you go into some kind of shock. You don’t understand where you are.

“One’s first instinct is of course to protect the family. We made contact with our extended family, who live in a different part of the city, with the intention of gathering everyone in one apartment in a tall building. In situations like this it’s preferable to be as high up as possible. In the meantime I’m also on the phone with Adir and Or [Moses, the deputy company commander], who are reporting 50 terrorists in their sector. I order my course commanders to get to Zikim, and the brigade commander too, because I realize that this is an assault of a different order entirely.

“After something like two hours, I manage to collect the family from all ends of Sderot and get them in one place,” Shay continues. “I double-check that they are secure, and leave quickly to engage in combat in Zikim. On the way I realize a shooting battle is underway there. I try to activate all the force multipliers from the nearby bases. But from the outset it’s quite clear that they are in the same situation and that there’s no one to talk to. From the reports I infer that there are attempts at penetration at Zikim but no positions have been taken over. The terrorists had a clear goal: to capture the base.”

A cruel battle was then evolving at the firing range’s guard post. “Reinforcement at the fiiiring ranges,” squad commander Eden Levy wrote in an urgent message at 8:06. “Reinforcement at firing range – urgent,” company commander Adar Ben Simon echoed. Then two minutes later, she added, “We’re under fire. There are around four [terrorists] here.” Deputy company commander Moses, while trying to foil another penetration, encouraged her comrades to hang on. “Shoot back shoot,” she wrote in the group, but after realizing there might be a problem of dwindling ammunition, she cautioned: “Don’t waste it all.”

In the meantime, a tough battle was also underway at Position 6. Squad commander Idan engaged the terrorists way beyond the point of exhaustion. The only thing that stopped him was the bullet that struck him in the jaw and wounded him seriously. The company’s sergeant major, Yoav, who pulled Idan out of the fray, was himself shot in the back. (Idan was seriously wounded but survived.) Meanwhile, Moses tried to assist with the evacuation, but exactly at 8 A.M., the deputy company commander wrote, “Not succeeding in evacuation due to gunfire.”

Her mother, Yochi Moses, relates now, on the basis of accounts she heard during Or’s shivah, that, “She urged him [Yoav] to crawl, because it was difficult to pull him back because he’s a big fellow and they were under heavy fire. She screamed, ‘Fire – salvo,’ and then she and Nitai, a company commander who was with her, opened fire and moved the wounded person as far back as they could.” The messages in the WhatsApp group indicate that at some point deputy company commander Moses noticed that communication with her superior officer had been severed. “What’s happening with Abudi?” she asked at 8:19. No reply from Abudi.

His mother, Vicki, is not preoccupied today with the question of when and how her son fell. “I only know that he made sure that all the new recruits were protected and that he moved between a number of positions to contain the terrorists,” Vicki says. “I was told that he fell in battle together with his deputy, Or. I also heard that he took a direct hit to the heart. But my boy had a huge heart – from the top of the head to the tip of the pinky. Even if he had been hit in one of his toes, he would have fallen the same way.”
For her part, Yochi Moses takes consolation from the equanimity her daughter displayed in her last moments. “I was told that Or functioned effectively and calmly throughout the whole event. At some point she took a bullet, managed to say, ‘I’ve been shot,’ and fell. I understood that she didn’t suffer. I am so proud of my girl. She and her friends first placed their ‘cubs’ safely in the rear, and then charged forward like lions and lionesses.”

The report that Abudi and Moses had been killed found Shay on the final stretch of his frenzied drive to the base. “At some point company commander Nitai radios a report that one cannot help but cry about,” Shay recalls. “This is what he says: ‘Company commander and deputy company commander no longer with us, I am taking command.’”

Chapter 3

Twelve hours earlier, Friday night. The mess hall at the Zikim base. It was the eve of the Simhat Torah holiday, and the cooks went out of their way to provide a particularly impressive array of meat, side dishes and salads. Joining the feast was Rabbi Omri Elon with his wife, Michal, and their eight children. “I am a civilian, not a military chaplain,” Elon emphasized this week in an interview with Haaretz. “I went there as part of a sort of outsourcing effort for the base rabbi, who obviously could not be there 24/7.” After the meal, the rabbi and his wife offered to lead an activity in the spirit of the holiday for those who wished to attend.

“But in this case the commanders required everyone to stay,” Elon recalls. “I told the staff that I would never coerce anyone, but they insisted that everyone remain present.” The large number of participants required the rabbi to display creativity. “I didn’t have an activity suited for 100 people, so I had to improvise. My parents are from a garin (core group) that fought in the Yom Kippur War. So I simply told them stories of camaraderie, heroism and self-sacrifice from 1973. About the ordinary soldier who found himself putting his finger in the dam, as it were, in order to protect his buddies. Who knew that within a few hours those words would assume such concrete expression?”

On Shabbat morning, when the assault on the base began, the Elon family was taken to a protected space and remained there with the new recruits. “Every few minutes one of the commanders came and tried to reassure everyone,” Elon recalls. “But he barely succeeded in finishing a sentence before rushing out to his position. Generally he also did not return from it. At a certain stage we heard that there were people wounded. The troops around us dwindled and each of us had to muster strength they didn’t know they had.”

Elon is referring here principally to his wife, Michal. A nurse by profession, she went to help tend to the wounded. “At one point I was told that she too was wounded. At first I thought it was from a mortar shell, but then I learned that she had been shot. After a certain period when I didn’t see her, she somehow dragged herself back to the secure space, took her kerchief and made a tourniquet. Michal told me: ‘Look for more punctures in my body.’ I found two more and pressed hard on them. She had been shot in the arm, the stomach and the thigh, but fortunately the bullets did not penetrate deeply. We sat there, waiting to be rescued, but no one lied to us that rescue was imminent. In those moments it was already clear to us that we were in the midst of a war.

Capt. Adir Abudi's mother, Vicki, is not preoccupied with the question of when and how her son fell: “I only know that he made sure that all the new recruits were protected and that he moved between a number of positions to contain the terrorists.”

“My youngest daughter is only a year and 8 months old, and we had to stay quiet so as not to arouse the attention of the terrorists in the event that they forced their way in,” Elon continues. “Our eldest daughter, who is also a soldier, organized a weapon for herself and stood in a kind of firing line in order to protect us. We improvised a sort of barrier between us and the children. Michal lay there for three hours, from 8:30 until around 11:30, all that time saying, ‘But Noa is still there. Noa is still there.’”

Noa is the sergeant who was wounded seriously in the lengthy gunfight at the firing range. And as she fought for her life in one of the rooms at the command center, the situation of her comrades at the guard post turned increasingly desperate. At 7:44, Yannai Kaminka requested: “Urrrgent evacuation needed at the firing range.” His parents, Eyal and Elana, note now that his message attested to the depth of their son’s distress. “Yannai was a guy who held back a lot when it came to expressing emotions,” Eyal says. “If he wrote like that, it’s a sign that he really needed others to come to help him.”

His buddies in the position signaled similar urgency. “Require reinforcement at firing range,” the driver, Omri Niv Firshtein, requested a quarter of an hour later. Nine minutes passed. “They have grenades,” Adar Ben Simon reported. “Reinforcement required!!!” At 8:10 she added, “Soon we’ll run out of bullets. Urgent reinforcement requested.” Not a minute passed and the fighter next to her, Eden Levy, voiced a similar plea. “We need heeelp. Firing range. Ammunition has run out.” In those same seconds she also messaged the WhatsApp group consisting of her parents and four siblings. “I love you,” she wrote. Her mother, who could not imagine that her daughter was texting them from the depths of hell, replied with a smiley emoji blowing a heart-shaped kiss. Two minutes later, Eden managed to report to the command post that someone was wounded. The clock showed 8:13. It was the last sign of life to come from the sentry position at the firing range. Adar, Yannai, Eden and Omri fell in its defense.

Base commander Lt. Col. Shay: “They conducted a heroic and prolonged battle there. Our first debriefing indicates that they were targeted by RPGs and fragmentation grenades.”

Along with the tragedy, the death of the four fighters signaled the first “successful” incursion by terrorists at Zikim. It’s still not clear why the attackers did not exploit the opportunity to take over all the positions at the base.. Shay thinks they were exhausted and concluded the battle with seriously diminished forces. However, in one case at least a terrorist succeeded in penetrating Zikim. He made his way to where the male soldiers were, in their protected area, and passed through the room where Sgt. Noa, seriously wounded, lay.

Chapter 4

Some of the 90 new recruits who spent long hours in the secure area made occasional forays to more forward positions to help extricate the wounded or to bring ammunition to the commanders defending the base. Four recruits volunteered to evacuate Noa and to secure the area while she received first aid from Michal Elon, the rabbi’s wife. Pvt. Neria Aaron Nagari, who like his buddies had been drafted only two months beforehand, was one of those who initiated the evacuation. The improvised auxiliary squad split in two: Nagari and another soldier waited outside the room where Noa and Elon were, and the other two went inside. The terrorist arrived at that moment, encountered the soldier with Nagari first and wounded him. At this stage, Nagari apparently requested assistance from the two soldiers inside the room. The terrorist took advantage of the moment when Nagari turned his gaze and shot him at close range. He then advanced toward the nurse and the wounded officer.

“The terrorist looked at Noa,” Rabbi Elon relates. “My wife saw their eye contact. He thought she was dead, so he turned to my wife and shot her.” According to three sources, one of the two new recruits inside the room threw himself on the terrorist in an attempt to grab his weapon. Just as the gun was slipping away from the terrorist, he pulled out a knife and stabbed the soldier a number of times in the head (despite the wounds, he survived). The fourth recruit took advantage of the moment, and shot and killed the terrorist.

“That’s what made it possible for Michal to escape and to return to us in the protected space,” her husband says now. “After we were rescued, she was taken to the hospital and had to undergo complicated surgery, but we are still on a ‘high’ from the heroism demonstrated by the officers and soldiers there. They absolutely ran into the fire with eyes open to save one another.”

Chapter 5

Yehudit, another officer in Tavor, was spending the Simhat Torah holiday at home. The moment she heard that her comrades-in-arms were risking their lives to defend the camp, she grabbed her rifle and rushed to Zikim. “Another 20 minutes and I’m at the base,” Yehudit announced, in a message sent at 9:14 A.M. But the staff WhatsApp group, which just an hour earlier had been abuzz, had all but gone mute. Sgt. Ron, who suffered a head wound and was evacuated to the rear, somehow managed to reply to the officer en route. “Everyone wounded!!!” she wrote. “My dad arriving as reinforcement. More required!”

“My father is a career army guy,” Ron told Haaretz this week, “so after the commanders fell, I called and asked him to come. You have to understand: All the roads had been seized by terrorists. We kept asking for help with evacuations, but there was chaos on the roads. As fate would have it, my dad met Yehudit on the way. They arrived at the base together.”

Ron says her father and another female officer first entered the room where Sgt. Noa was lying after the new recruit had killed the terrorist and Michal had been evacuated. “They checked to see that she was conscious and responsive, and arranged her evacuation. They also reached my three friends at the sentry post at the firing range – but it was too late for them,” Ron says.

When the fighting at Zikim ended, forces of the Maglan reconnaissance unit arrived, took up positions along the fence and started to evacuate the 90 new recruits and dozens of civilians who had shown up. Many of the latter were survivors of a party that was held on the Zikim beach between Friday night and Saturday morning.

“That’s a party that no one talks about,” says Lt. Col. Shay, hinting that the Supernova rave outside at Re’im overshadowed the party in his sector. “When the terrorists emerged from the water on Shabbat morning, they first encountered those party-goers, and killed between 10 and 15 of them. All the others ran toward our sentry and were hustled into the protected space. I estimate that we rescued between 20 and 30 people.”

A little after 10 A.M., the survivors of the battle for Zikim took to WhatsApp, providing updates on the situation and the troops: who was in the weapons room, who was at the main sentry position, who was wounded. “Where is Abudi?” one soldier in the group asked, adding, “He’s not on any list.” Another took the initiative and she compiled a list titled “Whereabouts Unknown.” The names appeared in random order: Adar. Yannai. Or. Omri. Adir. Neria. Eden.

Epilogue

Sunday this week, at the Kaminka home in Tzur Hadassah, southwest of Jerusalem. It’s afternoon. The light is fading on the last day of the shivah. Only a handful of visitors remain, along with members of the nuclear family and some close friends. Eyal and Elana have agreed to be interviewed, but have a request: They want to talk about Yannai’s life, not only about his death.

“We don’t want him to be remembered only for the way he fought during the last 20 minutes of his life,” Elana says.

Her husband Eyal, a lecturer and consultant who served formerly as director of the International School for Holocaust Studies at the Yad Vashem institute in Jerusalem, explains that Yannai, the eldest of four children, was an introvert who loathed exposure. “As part of the black humor of the shivah,” he says, “we joked that he would die if he saw all the fuss around him.”

The parents add that although he was reserved, he was a sociable guy – he was a leader in the Scouts, did a year of National Service before the army – who preferred intimate situations.

“He blossomed in one-on-one situations,” Elana relates. “He had X-ray eyes and a kind of ability to see inside the person opposite him – whether friend or Scouts member. Sometimes he would really get into the role of interviewer. ‘Let’s talk about your worries.’ But he himself hated exposure.”

“Yannai wanted to redefine the role of parents and child in the family,” his father adds. “He wasn’t willing to be only a child, but worked very hard to be a friend to each of us. He wanted us to talk to him about what hurt us, and that’s something that as a parent you can’t always do.”

Yannai’s sensitivities vis-a-vis the people around him were magnified during his military service. At the shivah, his friends related how, as an officer, he gave up on sleep almost entirely and would visit his soldiers on guard duty. He asked how they were doing and emerged with lists that enabled him to respond to the emotional – and in some cases also material – distress of his subordinates. “And then he would ask us to ensure that this soldier got a refrigerator, that one an armchair, at home,” his mother says.

We are not people of heroic tales. Ideas like 'It’s good to die for our country' and 'martyrdom' are completely alien to us. But we know our Yannai. We have no doubt that in his last moments he felt a sense of fulfillment that he had been looking after his 'children.'

Ilana, Yannai Kaminka's mother
The same deep commitment to his troops was evident in the battle in which he fell.

“We are not people of heroic tales,” Elana says in a faltering voice. “An ethos like ‘It’s good to die for our country,’ and certainly ‘martyrdom’ are completely alien to us. We are not there. But we know our Yannai and we know what filled his life, what made him happy. From his point of view, he was the daddy of the new recruits. We have no doubt that in his last moments, he felt a sense of fulfillment that he had been looking after his children.”

The Moses family also ended their shivah in Ashdod on Sunday evening. A modest apartment. Fourth floor, no elevator. The father, Yisrael, works in an Israel Aerospace Industries plant; the mother, Yochi, is a travel agent. The small size of their home, she says, was the secret of the family’s strength: “It’s what unified us. Our Ori shared a room with her 19-year-old sister and her 15-year-old brother. That is not something to be taken for granted. And no matter how frugally we had to live, Ori didn’t skimp on anything. She was generous, especially when it came to people around her. That’s what consoles us – that she lived her short life to the end. Most of the time she was on the base, and when she came home for Shabbat, she wasn’t capable of just sitting cross-legged for a minute. She would go to the beach or to a bar or restaurant. We didn’t see her much. I might still be in denial but as far as I’m concerned, she’ll be back in a minute.”

The Nagari family, from the settlement of Talmon, not far from Ramallah, is struggling to come to terms with the death of Neria, the fourth child of seven.

“Neria my beloved was martyred and he is now in a good place,” says his mother, Sharon. “He is in the highest realms along with the greatest of the righteous. Neria comes to me at night, an entity without a body but bathed in light. He wishes to send personal messages – to me, to his father – but he also has a message for the whole people of Israel: The Holy One, blessed be He, loves us all, is sending powers and requests so that we won’t break.”

In Givatayim two mothers, Or-Li and Michal, and a father, Kobi, are mourning the death of their son, Omri Niv Firshtein.

Open gallery view
Staff Sergeant Omri Niv Firshtein, 20, from Givatayim.
Or-Li Niv, deputy mayor of Givatayim: “Through conversations with people who came to console us, we heard that Omri danced all the time and made everyone laugh. He was the heart of the company. He really loved the new recruits and had many conversations about issues relating to being an officer with Adir, the company commander. Maybe because I also come from a military background, and was in command and instructional positions for many years, Omri shared a great deal with me about how to develop resilience among soldiers and improve their ability to cope with crises. Today, among my tasks in the municipality, I hold the security and emergency portfolio. So, on that Shabbat on which the disaster occurred, I simply rushed to the situation room, and worked and waited all day for information. When I started to get evasive replies, I began to realize what happened but didn’t want to worry Michal. She is the optimist among us. Even when they knocked on our door, she was certain they would tell us that Omri was wounded.”

“I don’t feel anger toward anyone,” Niv emphasizes. “The army is enveloping us – both Omri’s superiors and also those dealing with casualties. But I don’t stop asking myself how it happened, how it was that we never thought something like this was possible, how we were so arrogant.”

Vicky Abudi, from Modi’in, the mother of Adir, the company commander, relates that her son wasn’t supposed to be an officer.

“I’m a mother who is coping with oncological issues, and because of that one of the conditions of Adir’s service was that he would come home for Shabbat and holidays. To participate in the squad commanders course, he gave up those conditions, but for the officer corps it wasn’t enough. Because he looked after me and was with me all the time, he didn’t obtain a matriculation certificate, which means he was not eligible for an officers course. He kept fighting to get in (and succeeded), but never hid the fact that he didn’t meet the basic conditions. He always said, ‘I am an exception,’ in order to serve as a role model for young people like him, who come from tough situations.”

Eden Levy’s parents, from the community of Nirit in central Israel, requested a military funeral with as few religious trappings as possible. Five popular Israeli songs were played at her grave, and her father eulogized her: “Like many before me, I believed that if we would do enough for our beloved country, our children would not have to be drafted and experience more military operations and wars. And here I am, standing now above your final resting place, and trying with all my might to believe in the path that your mother, myself, your brothers and sisters chose to follow, which led us and you to this awful moment.”

Also among the family of Adar Ben Simon from Neve Ziv, near Nahariya, the profound grief is tempered by thoughts about the rightness of the road that was chosen.

“I draw an imaginary scale,” Zahava, Adar’s mother, says. “On one side I say to myself: True, she was a heroine. True, that’s her role as a fighter. It’s clear to me that she would do it all again. On the other hand, deep frustration weighs on my soul – at the personal level, many thoughts of ‘what if’: What if she hadn’t been there on Shabbat, what if she had only been wounded and been evacuated to the protected space, what if the reinforcements had arrived a moment earlier? But there is also another frustration. Terrible anger at the debacle that took place here. I’m not yet there. I am still weeping for my daughter. But if I have one message, it is that after this government wipes out all the terrorists and purges Gaza of those monsters, its people will have to put the keys on the table and say: We messed up, we failed, now we need different people to run the country.”

Among those paying their respect at the mourning periods in the seven households are quite a few parents of the new recruits at Zikim, who survived thanks to the comrades who are being remembered. One is Eyal Levy-Rosenbaum, father of Timna.

“I had no doubt that we needed to go,” he says. “I didn’t need an Israeli army debriefing to understand what those people did there. Timna described a very militant and determined staff that didn’t hesitate to engage [the terrorists] for a moment. When we started to put together the other pieces of the puzzle, it turned out that her commanding officers safeguarded the new recruits in a protected bubble. But beyond that, the battle they conducted there at the fence had critical significance for the whole sector. Due to the very fact that they contained and repel the terrorists, I estimate that they bought time for the communities just north of the Gaza Strip, and enabled them to get organized. When I first saw my daughter I told her that the moment I understood what happened there, my heart broke for the families of those who fell. They paid the steepest price – and she is with us thanks to them.”

KoningWouter	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:06
	Samenvatting 7 oktober tot 21 oktober (wiki) In de ochtend van 7 oktober 2023 werden vanuit de Gazastrook duizenden raketten op Israëlische plaatsen in de grensstreek afgevuurd. Ook de steden Tel Aviv en Jeruzalem waren doelwit. Een groot aantal Hamasleden stak vanuit de Gazastrook op meerdere plaatsen de grens met Israël over, over land en via de lucht. Meer dan 1.300 mensen werden gedood, waaronder tientallen niet-Israëli's. Premier Benjamin Netanyahu sprak in reactie op de aanvallen over een oorlogssituatie. Op 7 oktober begon Israël met een uitgebreide reeks luchtaanvallen op de Gazastrook, die volgens Israël waren gericht op locaties van Hamas. Op 8 oktober sloot Israël de toevoer van elektriciteit en brandstof naar Gaza af. Als gevolg daarvan viel de enige elektriciteitscentrale op 11 oktober uit.Netanyahu zei op 9 oktober tegen VS-president Biden, dat Israël geen andere keus heeft dan een grondoperatie in Gaza te starten en dat het "een lange en moeilijke oorlog" zal worden Als gevolg van het conflict liepen ook de spanningen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever, inclusief Oost-Jeruzalem op. Sinds 8 oktober werden gevechten aan de Israëlisch-Libanese grens gemeld. Het ging om beschietingen door Hezbollah, die het Israëlische leger met raketaanvallen antwoordde. Israël riep op 13 oktober inwoners van Gaza-Stad op om voor hun veiligheid uit te wijken naar zuidelijker delen van de Gazastrook. De burgers hebben tot 16:00 uur lokale tijd op 14 oktober naar haar het zuiden te vertrekken via 2 routes. Tot op heden is er nog geen grond offensief in Gaza. Op 17 oktober werd het Al-Ahli Arabi Baptistenziekenhuis in Gaza getroffen door een bom, sommige bronnen spreken zelfs van 500 doden. Dit bombardement leidde tot veel onrust. Leiders in het Midden Oosten zeggen hun afsprak met Joe Biden af, bij ambassades wordt geprotesteerd. Beide partijen claimen dat de andere partij verantwoordelijk is voor het drama in het ziekenhuis. Op 19 oktober werd bekend dat Ofir Engel, een 18-jarige Nederlander een van de 200 gegijzelde is die Hamas heeft meegenomen naar Gaza. Op 21 oktober werden er enkele vrachtwagens met hulp Gaza binnengelaten vanuit Egypte. Recente frontpage berichten 21 oktober met dank aan @Jippie Piers Morgan interviewt Bassem Youssef over Israël en Gaza Hamas laat 2 Amerikaanse gegijzelden vrij "De werkwijze van Hamas' SPOILER: Twitteraccounts van een aantal betrouwbare twitteraars https://twitter.com/lookner https://twitter.com/IntelCrab https://twitter.com/IntelDoge https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical https://twitter.com/JoeTruzman https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel https://twitter.com/obk https://twitter.com/YWNReporter https://twitter.com/HelpfulNotes SPOILER: Kaart van de Gazastrook en informatie over de Gazastrook De Gazastrook (Arabisch: Qita` Ghazza - ???? ???, Hebreeuws: Retzu'at 'Azza - ????? ??? ), vaak kortweg aangeduid als Gaza, is een gebied gelegen in het Midden-Oosten, in de Levant, en maakt samen met de Westelijke Jordaanoever deel uit van de Palestijnse Gebieden. De landstrook is genoemd naar de belangrijkste stad Gaza. Er wordt geschat dat in 2023 er tussen de 2,0 en 2,4 miljoen mensen wonen in de Gazastrook. De Gazastrook heeft een oppervlakte van ongeveer 360 km² en grenst aan Israël, Egypte en de Middellandse Zee. De belangrijkste steden zijn Gaza, Rafah, Abasãn, Khan Younis en Dayr al Balah. De kustlijn is ongeveer 40 km lang, de grens met Egypte ongeveer 12 km en de grens met Israël ongeveer 59 km lang. SPOILER: Geschiedenis conflict Sykes-Picotverdrag 1916 Balfour-verklaring 1917 Emir Faisal–Chaim Weizmann overeenkomst 1919 Arabisch-Palestijnse opstand 1936-39 De geschiedenis van Israel in WO2 (CIDI) Tweestatenoplossing 1947 Kaartje ontwikkelingen 1947 en 1948 Arabisch-Israëlische Oorlog van 1948 Suezcrisis 1956 Palestijnse Bevrijdingsorganisatie 1964 Zesdaagse Oorlog 1967 Resolutie 242 Veiligheidsraad Verenigde Naties 1967 Resolutie 338 Veiligheidsraad Verenigde Naties 1973 Jom Kipoer-oorlog 1973 Libanese Burgeroorlog 1975-1990 Camp David-akkoorden 1978 Libanonoorlog (1982) Palestinian Declaration of Independence 1988 Oslo-akkoorden 1993 2000 Camp David Summit Taba Summit 2001 2002 Arab League summit Conflict in de Gazastrook 2008-2009 Conflict in de Gazastrook 2012 Conflict in de Gazastrook 2014 Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict (2021) Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict wikipedia Nederlands Is this map of Israel occupied terrioty accurate? Enkele belangrijke links Liveblog Nu.nl Liveblog NOS Liveblog AD SPOILER: Livestreams Livestreams Israel: Livestream met beelden (let op gaan veel neppe streams rond): LIVE Multi-Cam: Views from Israel and Gaza amid ongoing fighting Steve Lookner live Israel Gaza War - LIVE Breaking News Coverage (Ground Invasion to Begin?)
Nattekat	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:07
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:05 schreef sjorsie1982 het volgende: [..] hou toch op, iedereen weet dat het land toebehoort aan de romeinen, nu dus Italianen!! Romeinen die het land hebben ingepikt van de oorspronkelijke bewoners ja Oh, dat zijn de joden weer, hm...
sjorsie1982	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:08
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:06 schreef KoningWouter het volgende: [..] Vandaar dat er mensen liepen met Italiaanse vlaggen tijdens de pro-Palestina demonstraties. heb je dat nu pas door?
Werkperd	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:08
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 11:54 schreef KoningWouter het volgende: [..] Het is mij juist heel erg tegengevallen wat Rusland voor capaciteiten heeft. Ik was toen de Oekraine oorlog ook bang dat het zou escaleren in een wereldoorlog. Maar door de zwakte van het Russische leger en het verstandig handelen van het westen is me dat allemaal behoorlijk mee gevallen. Rusland is niet sterk, en al helemaal niet op een ander continent. Hoe kom je er bij dat Israël geen plannen heeft en dat ze geen gedetailleerd beeld hebben van Hamas als organisatie met hun tunnels. Dat schud je zo uit de mauw? Ik zie Egypte niet snel het conflict betreden. Turkije al helemaal niet. Dat lijkt zo omdat Rusland in het begin minder ervaren personeel naar de fronten heeft gestuurd. Ruslands strategie is meer gebaseerd op laten uitputten van. Zelfs Oekrainse soldaten raken hopeloos omdat ze zeggen dat de Russen maar blijven komen en niet weten van ophouden. Als de geldkraan voor Oekraine straks stopt, dan is Oekraine meteen klaar. Voor de rest gebruikt Rusland voornamelijk verouderde tuig. Daar hebben zij genoeg van in voorraad. Dat schud ik niet uit mijn mauw. Ik kom tot bepaalde conclusies na het evalueren van analyses die defensie-experts geven. Een land als Israël die niet eens de inlichtingen had over een massale paragliders aanval, zal naar mijn mening ook niet over informatie beschikken over strategie van Hamas bij een mogelijke grondoffensief. Het gaat gewoon hel worden voor ze. Al die tanks en noem maar op zullen een voor een afgeknald worden.
sjorsie1982	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:09
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:07 schreef Nattekat het volgende: [..] Romeinen die het land hebben ingepikt van de oorspronkelijke bewoners ja Oh, dat zijn de joden weer, hm... ho, je moet ergens een beginpunt kiezen en dat is duidelijk bij de romeinen. De jaartelling begint ook in die tijd, dus dat is het bewijs dat dat het begin is
KoningWouter	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:11
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:08 schreef Werkperd het volgende: [..] Dat lijkt zo omdat Rusland in het begin minder ervaren personeel naar de fronten heeft gestuurd. Ruslands strategie is meer gebaseerd op laten uitputten van. Zelfs Oekrainse soldaten raken hopeloos omdat ze zeggen dat de Russen maar blijven komen en niet weten van ophouden. Als de geldkraan voor Oekraine straks stopt, dan is Oekraine meteen klaar. Voor de rest gebruikt Rusland voornamelijk verouderde tuig. Daar hebben zij genoeg van in voorraad. Dat schud ik niet uit mijn mauw. Ik kom tot bepaalde conclusies na het evalueren van analyses die defensie-experts geven. Een land als Israël die niet eens de inlichtingen had over een massale paragliders aanval, zal naar mijn mening ook niet over informatie beschikken over strategie van Hamas bij een mogelijke grondoffensief. Het gaat gewoon hel worden voor ze. Al die tanks en noem maar op zullen een voor een afgeknald worden. Die geldkraan stopt voorlopig niet. Die inlichtingen waren er wel er is alleen niets mee gedaan om welke reden dan ook. (onderschat of zo) Een grondoffensief gaat lastig worden dat ben ik met je eens. Maar ik vind dat je het wel heel erg gekleurd ziet. (doemdenken) Ik denk dat Israël slim genoeg is om dit niet tot een fiasco uit te laten draaien.
sjorsie1982	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:11
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:08 schreef Werkperd het volgende: Een land als Israël die niet eens de inlichtingen had over een massale paragliders aanval, zal naar mijn mening ook niet over informatie beschikken over strategie van Hamas bij een mogelijke grondoffensief. het houdt niet op bij jou.... waar zijn je filmpjes?
Droopie	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:12
	https://www.trouw.nl/nieu(...)odse-staat~b13b10f7/ Kies ik het jaar 650 Maar daar hoor je bijna geen media over. Kan mij voorstellen dat gematigde moslims dit ook niet durven te bespreken in hun omgeving. Misschien is dit juist een reden dat in west-europa de meeste demonstraties zijn. Andere kant, de conservatie moslim landen kunnen moeilijk zeggen free palestina maar wij moeten jullie palestijnen niet. Het is gewoon drama voor alle partijen.
Nattekat	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:13
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:09 schreef sjorsie1982 het volgende: [..] ho, je moet ergens een beginpunt kiezen en dat is duidelijk bij de romeinen. De jaartelling begint ook in die tijd, dus dat is het bewijs dat dat het begin is Ik wilde nog verder, maar schijnt dat je na de eerste joodse staten terecht komt in de prehistorie. De joden waren er dus als eerste, niet de Romeinen
Werkperd	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:15
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:11 schreef KoningWouter het volgende: [..] Die geldkraan stopt voorlopig niet. Die inlichtingen waren er wel er is alleen niets mee gedaan om welke reden dan ook. (onderschat of zo) Een grondoffensief gaat lastig worden dat ben ik met je eens. Maar ik vind dat je het wel heel erg gekleurd ziet. (doemdenken) Ik denk dat Israël slim genoeg is om dit niet tot een fiasco uit te laten draaien. Je begrijpt toch ook wel dat het geen oneindige geldkraan is aangezien we steeds verder een recessie inrollen? Dat roekeloos bij printen maakt ons alleen maar verder kapot. Ik denk dat het dit keer ander koek wordt voor ze.
KoningWouter	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:16
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:15 schreef Werkperd het volgende: [..] Je begrijpt toch ook wel dat het geen oneindige geldkraan is aangezien we steeds verder een recessie inrollen? Dat roekeloos bij printen maakt ons alleen maar verder kapot. Ik denk dat het dit keer ander koek wordt voor ze. En die geldkraan heeft Rusland wel? Ik denk dat we van mening verschillen, en dat is prima. We zullen het zien. Voorlopig zie ik dit niet zo snel uitdraaien op een wereldoorlog.
Momo	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:20
	In de Gazastrook is gisteravond een 33-jarige vrouw uit Nederland om het leven gekomen. Dat bevestigt het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken na berichtgeving door de NOS. 'Zij was een van de personen in Gaza met wie Buitenlandse Zaken in contact stond', luidt het in een verklaring aan deze nieuwssite. Het ministerie vernam van de familie van de vrouw in Gaza over haar dood. 'We staan haar naasten bij in deze zware tijd.' Buitenlandse Zaken kan geen uitspraken doen over de toedracht 'omdat we daarover op dit moment geen bevestigde of verifieerbare informatie hebben.' AD liveblog
sjorsie1982	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:21
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:13 schreef Nattekat het volgende: [..] Ik wilde nog verder, maar schijnt dat je na de eerste joodse staten terecht komt in de prehistorie. De joden waren er dus als eerste, niet de Romeinen maar dan had de jaartelling toch moeten beginnen ca 1200 BC? Het is niet voor niks dat de jaartelling begon bij de romeinen, de rechtmatige eigenaar van al het land rondom de middelandse zee.
Nattekat	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:23
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:21 schreef sjorsie1982 het volgende: [..] maar dan had de jaartelling toch moeten beginnen ca 1200 BC? Het is niet voor niks dat de jaartelling begon bij de romeinen, de rechtmatige eigenaar van al het land rondom de middelandse zee. Maar dat komt door de Christenen.
TweedeKlum	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:23
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:21 schreef sjorsie1982 het volgende: [..] maar dan had de jaartelling toch moeten beginnen ca 1200 BC? Het is niet voor niks dat de jaartelling begon bij de romeinen, de rechtmatige eigenaar van al het land rondom de middelandse zee. De middellandse zee heet in het Latijn mare nostrum, wat letterlijk onze zee betekent, waarvan acte.
heywoodu	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:23
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:21 schreef sjorsie1982 het volgende: [..] maar dan had de jaartelling toch moeten beginnen ca 1200 BC? Het is niet voor niks dat de jaartelling begon bij de romeinen, de rechtmatige eigenaar van al het land rondom de middelandse zee.
Droopie	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:24
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:16 schreef KoningWouter het volgende: [..] En die geldkraan heeft Rusland wel? Ik denk dat we van mening verschillen, en dat is prima. We zullen het zien. Voorlopig zie ik dit niet zo snel uitdraaien op een wereldoorlog. De wapenindustrie is gebaat bij oorlog en alleen dankzij de het geld van Amerika dat aan Oekraine besteed is, zit Amerika niet in ee recessie Dus die oorlog vinden ze heel erg fijn en komt niet ongelegen. Maar een oorlog in het midden-oosten zal geen enkel land (behalve Israel) wenselijk achten.
TweedeKlum	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:25
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:23 schreef heywoodu het volgende: [..] Of het rechtmatig was is een tweede maar de Romeinen beheersten op een gegeven moment alle landen rondom de middellandse zee dus in die zin klopt het.
Slayage	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:28
	Waar Israël nu twee weken mee bezig is heeft net zo weinig met zelfverdediging te maken als het uitmoorden van hele families door Hamas met zelfverdediging te maken had. twitter
Werkperd	zondag 22 oktober 2023 @ 12:29
	quote: Op zondag 22 oktober 2023 12:16 schreef KoningWouter het volgende: [..] En die geldkraan heeft Rusland wel? Ik denk dat we van mening verschillen, en dat is prima. We zullen het zien. Voorlopig zie ik dit niet zo snel uitdraaien op een wereldoorlog. De Russische inflatie is anders niet zo hoog als hier. Ze zijn niet afhankelijk van buitenlandse energie. Dat scheelt al veel. Daarnaast zijn er tussen diverse landen akkoorden gesloten over handel in eigen valuta. Die ¤ en $ raakt ze dus niet. Ik zie dat alleen gebeuren als het escaleert naar een grootschalig regionaal conflict en die mogelijkheid is groot.