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On the morning of October 7, 2023, eight members of the Kibbutz Re’im emergency response team deployed in pairs to the four main gates of the community after spotting suspicious white SUVs near the Re’im junction. It was just before 7 a.m., and distant gunfire was audible. Believing the shooting to be Israeli military activity and unaware of the full scale of the attack, they nonetheless began preparing for the worst.
No mortar shells or rockets fell on Kibbutz Re'im at the beginning of the attack, but slowly, revellers began to stream in, leaving the Nova party in the nearby grove, which had just been dispersed by Code Red alarms. The fact that the Gaza Division base was nearby did not dull the senses of the small readiness squad led by kibbutz security chief Harel, and the head of the local emergency team who assisted and directed from a distance.
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Focal points in the battle of in Kibbutz Re'im and Re'im Junction
(Illustration: IDF)
According to an IDF investigation released Thursday, while Kibbutz Re’im was not spared casualties and kidnappings, it avoided the mass devastation seen in neighboring communities during Hamas’ coordinated assault.
Despite the proximity of the Gaza Division base, Re’im’s defenders—led by local security chief Harel and assisted remotely by the kibbutz’s emergency coordinator—remained alert and took initiative. Armed with equipment they had purchased themselves, including bulletproof vests, helmets, radios and rifles they kept at home rather than locked in communal armories, the team had recently undergone a drill simulating an infiltration and hostage crisis. That drill was led by Lt. Col. Asaf Chamami, who was killed that day in fighting near Kibbutz Nirim.
What proved most critical, however, was the community’s spirit of mutual responsibility. Residents ran barefoot from safe rooms to rescue neighbors from homes set on fire by infiltrators. Others sheltered dozens of survivors fleeing the nearby Nova music festival, huddling together for hours in protected rooms.
One of the battle’s most significant participants was Staff Sgt. Guy Simhi, a paratrooper who had been attending the festival with a friend from the kibbutz. The two saved 12 partygoers, sheltering them in the friend’s safe room and defending the house with a single rifle against waves of attackers throwing grenades. Simhi had already killed one armed assailant with his bare hands in the kitchen before climbing to the roof as the house burned. There, he was fatally shot.
Six IDF soldiers and three police officers were killed in the battle for Re’im. Five residents were abducted to Gaza and later freed in the November 2023 hostage deal. Four civilians and two foreign workers were murdered, including a Thai worker who was shot in cold blood by the terrorists because he had no room in the hijacked van. Seventeen homes were completely destroyed. Of the 44 Nova festivalgoers who found shelter in the kibbutz, 43 survived. The 44th was Guy Simhi.
Due to the lack of warning, four of the 12 members of Re'im's readiness squad were not at the kibbutz that morning. The other eight repelled the first wave of terrorists by deploying in front of the kibbutz gates, preventing them from entering with vehicles. According to intelligence findings collected since then, part of the Nukhbah company that arrived in the kibbutz was supposed to continue to Ofakim and the Nevatim Air Force Base in the eastern Negev.
The attackers’ first entry into the kibbutz occurred at 7:51 a.m., with most killings and abductions happening by 8:30 a.m. The eight responders engaged roughly 80 Hamas fighters before police arrived around 10:00 a.m. They blocked multiple attempts to breach the kibbutz with vehicles and fought especially fierce battles around the youth neighborhood and along Route 234, where many festivalgoers and security vehicles passed.
In one instance, the defenders saw a massive wall of flames—ignited trees on the kibbutz perimeter—and correctly assumed dozens of fighters were behind it. They fired toward the blaze, wounding or repelling attackers.
Re’im’s location also played a role in limiting the damage. Police and other forces heading toward worse-hit areas like Be’eri and the Nova site were diverted to Re’im early in the assault. Police officers fought valiantly—some rammed militants with their vehicles or commandeered weapons from fallen terrorists.
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Despite the proximity of military bases, no IDF forces from the local battalion or regional division entered Re’im during the initial stages. The first soldiers to arrive—around 9:30 a.m.—were individual Golani troops who raced to the south independently. Lt. Col. Roi Levy, then commander of the Multidimensional Unit, entered the kibbutz from the Nova area and took command at 11:41 a.m. He was later killed in close-quarters combat.
By noon, Hamas terrorists had barricaded themselves in homes, particularly in the Young Generation Neighborhood. Special forces, including elite units, fought throughout the day and night to retake the area. A tank that arrived in the afternoon was ineffective, and a military bulldozer was eventually brought in to breach fortified rooms. No Hamas gunmen were captured alive in the kibbutz. In total, 49 terrorists were killed in Re’im, 22 of them in the Young Generation Neighborhood.
The IDF’s investigation highlighted stark readiness gaps between the army and the police. Officers near the kibbutz quickly grasped the scale of the attack and requested reinforcements via police radio. Units from places like Rahat responded rapidly, while IDF reinforcements were delayed and unable to coordinate on shared frequencies.
According to the report: “The police played a critical role in repelling a third wave of attackers—one that proved deadly in other communities.”
First published: 15:33, 04.10.25