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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday presented an internal review of the October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak to its residents, acknowledging serious defense lapses but stopping short of a full public inquiry.
Brig. Gen. Itamar Ben Chaim, commander of the 80th “Edom” Division, led the investigation, which was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate. The report concluded that more than 90 militants breached the kibbutz in three waves and that the quick-reaction team fought alone for hours before containing the assault.
Residents, however, criticized the probe as “partial,” noting that it interviewed only members of the quick-reaction team and omitted other fighters and the families who were taken hostage and have since returned from Gaza. “The kibbutz was abandoned,” they said in a joint statement. “Only our quick-reaction team fought with great courage—and some paid with their lives.”
They said eyewitness accounts conflict with the military’s findings. According to the IDF, no militants remained once rescue forces entered, but residents reported hearing gunfire and seeing suspicious movement well into the afternoon.
The kibbutz residents demand an independent, state-appointed commission of inquiry “to examine the entire decision-making chain and breakdowns in defense—and to issue clear conclusions for the future,” they said, calling it “a necessary condition for restoring trust and a sense of security.”
On October 7, eight residents were killed: six members of the quick-reaction team—Lior Rudaeff, Tal Chaimi, Oren Goldin, Yaron Shachar, Boaz Avraham, and Ofek Arazi—plus Corporal Ophir Melman, stationed at the nearby Sufa outpost, and festivalgoer Ella Hemi. Five others—Clara Marman, Luis Har, Fernando Marman, Gabriela Leimberg, and Mia Leimberg—were taken hostage; Goldin was later confirmed killed, and his body was recovered from Gaza in July 2024. Rudaeff’s and Chaimi’s bodies remain in Gaza.
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The residents said dozens of terrorists breached approximately 60 homes, kidnapped a family, and gravely wounded an elderly couple who narrowly escaped abduction. “On October 7, Nir Yitzhak was left entirely on its own,” they recounted. “Our quick-reaction team stood on the front line—without backup or support—against dozens of terrorists.”
The IDF’s review also credited a single tank west of the kibbutz with eliminating about 100 militants en route to Nir Yitzhak and the Sufa outpost, asserting that the battle there delayed further infiltration.
Residents say the fight is not over until Rudaeff and Chaimi are returned. “Tal and Lior deserve burial in Israel, especially with Memorial Day and Independence Day approaching,” they said, calling their return “a moral and ethical imperative for both the state and the IDF.”