October 7th Massacre/Alumim

Kibbutz Alumim is famous for its white houses, rows of handsome winged trees, and well-kept wide green lawns. The Kibbutz however looked very different after the events of October 7th. Abandoned vehicles were scattered, some of them were burned, and others pierced by bullets. On the night of Simchat Torah the Kibbutz members attended synagogue and did not suspect what was about to happen in less than 12 hours.

A terrorist who participated in the attack on Alumim and was arrested by arrested by the security forces told that the Hamas leaders commanded to commit atrocities including murder and rape. He admitted the plan was to go from house to house, from room to room, throw grenades, and kill everyone including women and children. The Hamas also approved abusing and dismembering the dead bodies.

On October 7th at 6:30 in the morning The holiday peace was disturbed by alarms and intense explosions from the Iron Dome batteries in the area. The residents got out from their beds and went to their shelters. Being accustomed to such events, they were not excited, however this time it was not as usual - the alarms went on and on.

When Rafi Babian, a resident of Alumim as well as security officer of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, heard the alarms and the Iron Done batteries nonstop, he understood that something out of the ordinary is happening. So he made sure his family was in the shelters, and organized to go to the council's headquarters to activate the emergency center. He approached the Saad junction, and saw there a bullet-ridden car. The driver waved with his injured hand and yelled that there are terrorists in the junction. As he got closer, he saw a van with a machine gun shooting everyone in the area. The junction was full of people running away from the music festival in Re’im forest in their way north. They stopped on the sideways due to alarms, and Rafi started sending them east since it was impossible to pass the junction.

At 6:45, the army ordered to raise the standby squad. At 7:00, ten terrorists arrived at the main gate on motorcycles. They rode to the back gate, and broke in. Once in, the terrorists started shooting indiscriminately at vehicles that passed. They hit about 20 cars. Two of them stormed the cars and shot the passengers. One of the terrorists got hit, either by from one of his friends or by a soldier. This group of terrorists retreated.

At 8:00, terrorists were detected at the residence of the foreign workers. The standby squad started shooting at them, however the terrorists entered the residence and started murdering the Nepalese and Thai workers. 16 of them were killed and 8 were taken hostages to Gaza. Eyal Rein, the security coordinator of the kibbutz, testified: “Unfortunately, we were unable to save them. They are our employees, we know each and every one by name.”

At 8:30, the terrorists set on fire the nearby milking parlor, and murdered all of the dairy workers. The haystacks were also set on fire. 700 cows were left without milking or food. Some of them died when the roof collapsed. Cows that are not milked develop inflammations and infections. At 8:45, the terrorists destroyed a shed with equipment worth hundreds thousands of shekels.

A report was received at 9:00 about terrorists in Gan Hadar at the western part of the Kibbutz. The standby squad hurried to the area. Zvika, who directed the operation from the command room in the heart of the kibbutz, told the following about the battle:

There began the heroic battle of the squad against dozens of terrorists who tried to break out from there towards the kibbutz houses. We managed to kill two terrorists, including the commander of the force, and prevent the terrorists from entering the houses. If they crossed that line, God forbid, there would be a disaster like in the other kibbutzim.

Eyal testified about the battle:

The terrorists broke through the fence and entered the kibbutz. Here we were already in front of them. This battle saved the kibbutz. We spotted a terrorist - we shot, we spotted another one - we shot. They shot at us. We managed to take down the first, followed by the second. The third tried to retreat towards the plantation. We took some friends up to the top floor of the prep school, and from there we were able to snipe at them. In this battle we killed three terrorists. In total we killed 15-20 terrorists and more. Some of them were discovered only the next day in all kinds of places.

Zvika added:

In this battle, three members of the squad were injured. One of them received a bullet in the chest and turned back to receive treatment at the clinic. The other was slightly injured. A third member, Eran, said 'I was hurt but I keep fighting'. He continued for another two hours until we evacuated him.

Michaela works as a midwife in Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, however on this day, she worked as a medic on a battlefield. She testified about the events:

I heard a shot but ran to get a first aid kit. I was operating on automatic and I didn't think about the fact that I was putting myself at risk. If I knew what was going on under my house, it is not clear if I would function. They brought the first wounded man and I see that it is my neighbor. I started to treat him and saw an injury to his hands, a bullet or shrapnel. After half an hour they brought another wounded man, much more seriously, with three gunshot wounds in the back. I called the doctor to get instructions. My husband and my father-in-law, an IDF invalid from the six days, who did not agree to stay in the shelter, helped me. He helped me, washed the wounded and helped put them in the evacuation vehicle.

Preparations were made for evacuating the wounded, and one of the members took his personal car and drove with a medic to Netivot. On the way out, they got shot by terrorists and the medic was slightly injured. At 11:30, another injured person came to Michaela’s house. This was Eran, who as mentioned above kept on fighting even after his injury. Michaela told about him:

He continued to fight for another four hours with three bullets in his thigh. At first he didn't feel hurt because of the adrenaline in his blood. I forced him to evacuate. My husband gave me his personal weapon and said 'let my father watch over you'. He loaded Eran onto the car and started driving. When he reached Netivot, the brakes and the engine began to emit smoke, and they were extinguished with a fire extinguisher. After Eran was evacuated to Soroka, my husband had to wait three hours until they let him come back.

After this battle, the squad started searching for any remaining terrorists.

At 12:00, another terrorist group was identified on cameras, this time in the avocado groves in the west of the Kibbutz. The squad arrived to the area and they were assisted by soldiers in an armored vehicle who arrived.

At 12:15, one of the residents reported the injury of her husband. The couple was in the shelter when terrorists started shooting at their doors. Soldiers rushed and eliminated these terrorists. Another terrorist shot at another house and the resident was injured by the shrapnel.

Two terrorists who didn't manage to cross the fence returned to the plantations. In the scans anothe terrorist was found lying and waiting. He raised his hands and was taken by the soldiers.

At 12:30, dozens of other terrorists arrived at the Kibbutz. This time to the packing house at the south-east of the Kibbutz. A helicopter eliminated most of them.