Reaction cost lives

October massacre: Israeli army admits failure

101 people lost their lives in Kibbutz Beeri.

(Bild: AFP/Aris MESSINIS)

An internal investigation by the Israeli army has identified a colossal failure in the run-up to the October massacre. The example of Kibbutz Beeri illustrates the initial excessive demands.

"The commission of inquiry finds that the Israeli armed forces failed in their mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Beeri," the published report states.

Terrorists from Hamas and other groups from the Gaza Strip attacked several kibbutzim, villages and towns as well as a music festival in southern Israel on October 7. They killed more than 1200 people and took another 250 hostages to Gaza.

The army was completely taken by surprise
The Israeli security forces and political decision-makers were taken completely by surprise on the day of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Hamas raged in Kibbutz Beeri for hours, only then did the military arrive.

(Bild: AFP/Menahem KAHANA)

In Kibbutz Beeri alone, close to the Gaza border, the terrorists killed 101 civilians. They abducted a further 30 to the Gaza Strip, 11 of whom are still in Hamas hands. 31 members of the security forces were killed in the fighting with the murderous invaders.

Hamas raged for hours
Survivors of the Beeri massacre had complained that the army only arrived at the scene hours after the attack began. The residents and a small contingent of the kibbutz's own armed security service were left to fend for themselves for hours.

The internal army report praised the courage of the kibbutz residents and their security service. Their efforts were decisive in "stabilizing the situation in the first hours of the battle and preventing the attack from spreading to other parts of the kibbutz".

Political failure too
The unprecedented massacre by the Islamist Hamas and its allies triggered the Gaza war. Survivors of the Beeri kibbutz welcomed the report, but at the same time criticized its limitation to the role of the army. Rather, it is also about clarifying the responsibility of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So far, he has stubbornly refused to give an account of his own possible failings.