An emotional meeting took place at Soroka Medical Center earlier this week between founding members of Kibbutz Nirim and IDF Armored Corps soldiers who saved the community members using their tank during Hamas' attack on October 7. "We're here to thank you," they said, hugging the troops.
"Last week my friend, who's part of the kibbutz's WhatsApp group, shared an article about the heroic battle led by a tank crew in Nirim," recounted Mira Haviavian, a member of the kibbutz.
"I first learned about what happened to us that Saturday from that article. We've had unanswered questions over the past six months. Did the terrorists pass us over? How was it that a massacre took place in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, 500 meters away from Nirim, but didn't reach us?" she said. "Their story is amazing; four brave children who saved an entire kibbutz."
Last week, Ynet published the story recounted by Staff Sergeant Nadav Bokhbot, a tank driver who was critically injured in the fighting, about four soldiers from the Armored Corps' 77th Battalion who, with a damaged tank, eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists and saved the lives of Nirim residents.
"On the morning of October 7, we held a line in the Kisufim sector. Inside the tank were Tank Commander Staff Sergeant Eyal Zapolsky, Loader Sergeant Yonatan Pinto, Gunner Sergeant Oren Shemesh, and me, the tank driver," he said.
Around 6:30 a.m., mortar fire began, and reports came in about two simultaneous large-scale terrorist infiltrations. At one point, the tank was hit by an anti-tank missile. Pinto was severely injured in both eyes and was evacuated. Zapolsky was lightly injured by shrapnel that hit his neck and hand.
As an incomplete tank crew inside a damaged tank, they reached the Nirim area and eliminated approximately 60 terrorists. At the time, the kibbutz members were in safe rooms and were unaware of what was taking place.
"We identified dozens of terrorists in two vans and two more riding motorcycles. We managed to eliminate all of them," Pinto explained. The tank crew left and returned to Nirim four times.
Rotem Ben-Ari, wife of Idan and mother to Yonatan and Asaf, recounted the attack, "We were in the safe room, and Yonatan, our three-and-a-half-year-old son, cried, so I told him that there were bad people outside, but our soldiers are like Spider-Man and Superman.
"He got excited and calmed down. That night, after we were evacuated, he went to every soldier he saw and asked, 'What superpower do you have? Can you fly?'" Ben-Ari then gave the troops, who were moved by the story, drawings her son drew for them.
Bokhbot is rehabilitating at Soroka Medical Center after being critically injured in another incident in Khan Yunis. He is connected to an ECMO machine simulating heart and lung activity and is undergoing intensive treatment due to smoke inhalation that caused him severe lung damage. His condition is improving.