IDF says it failed to defend Moshav Yakhini on Oct 7, police and civilians defended the community

An IDF investigative report released on Wednesday found that the Israeli military failed to properly protect the community of Moshav Yakhini during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion. 

Yakhini lies between the southern cities of Sderot and Netivot in the Gaza Envelope. While not considered by Hamas to be a significant target, its position along Highway 34 led to a successful attempt by terrorists to enter the community. 

The terrorists were eventually repelled by a combination of the Israel Police, Border Police, IDF combat soldiers, Police Counter-terrorism Unit officers and civilians of Yakhini. 

The first wave of Hamas terrorists began infiltrating Israel at the Gaza border around 6:38 a.m.

The terror cell, which reached Moshav Yakhini first, tried to infiltrate nearby Kibbutz Gavim at around 7:24 a.m. After finding the gate locked and engaging in a short firefight with a security guard and a resident, the terrorists left, traveling south towards Yakhini. Along the way, the terrorists carried out a killing spree on Highway 34, murdering eight Israeli civilians. 

Just before 7:40 a.m., the terrorists arrived at Yakhini and entered the moshav through an unlocked pedestrian gate. There, they found three civilians who had fled from the Nova festival hiding in a bomb shelter. 

The eight terrorists split up, with five going into the moshav, where they began shooting residents and throwing grenades at houses in the community, while three remained near the gate. 

Between 7:40 and 8:20, a combination of various forces, residents, off-duty soldiers, and the Israel Police engaged the terrorists at multiple points, while also trying to warn residents and assist the forces under fire. At this time, six of the original eight terrorists were killed. 

Throughout the rest of the day, as more terrorists attempted to enter Yakhini, while one terrorist had barricaded himself inside a house, a combination of police and Border Police forces, later joined by a General Staff Reconnaissance Unit rescue team, managed to fight off the remaining terrorists. All of the terrorists were eliminated by 11 a.m., and the focus turned to finding and treating the wounded. 

The IDF investigation also found that the military forces that arrived in Yakhini did not join members of the alert squad, as they did not have proper training or equipment to deal with the infiltration of the moshav by a terror squad. 

Several gates of the agricultural settlements nearby were open that morning, and the alert squad had minimal training, never having conducted joint exercises with IDF units in the sector. 

The investigation determined that the combined efforts of residents, civilians, police, IDF soldiers, and four residents of nearby Moshav Nir Moshe demonstrated bravery and courage by seeking contact with terrorists despite great personal risk, alerting residents, and assisting IDF troops under fire.

The investigation also found that the vast majority of forces who arrived at Yakhini that morning had not intended to go there. Some were en route to Sderot after seeing videos of terrorists in pickup trucks on social media, while others arrived at the scene by chance.

One example was a Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) force that was hit and planned to enter Yakhini to organize and treat the wounded. After arriving, the force realized there were terrorists in the moshav and engaged them in combat. In practice, most of the fighting in Yakhini was done by the Israel Police, Border Police and marine forces. Apart from the Sayeret Matkal force, other IDF units were isolated and sporadic.