Military probe reveals that local security team, not IDF, stopped Hamas massacre in Moshav Yated on Oct 7

The IDF recently released its investigation into the fighting in Moshav Yated on Oct. 7, 2023, which showed that the quick, determined action of the community’s alert squad and other armed residents spared them from a massacre as the military failed to protect it.

The investigation, which was led by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Itamar Ben-Haim and approved by former Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, was released recently as the latest of a series of similar probes into the military’s reaction to the events of Oct. 7, 2023. 

Moshav Yated is located in the southern Gaza Envelope border area, about five kilometers (3 miles) from the border fence. 

The military’s probe of the events on that day was based on interviews with residents, members of the alert squad, footage from surveillance cameras, information from social media, and intelligence documents. The IDF found that it failed to reach the area of Moshav Yated in a timely manner, and that forces in the area experienced significant breakdowns in the command structure and communication at the brigade and battalion levels. 

The investigation revealed that 11 terrorists entered the community, ten of which were apprehended or neutralized within the community by members of the alert squad. One terrorist managed to evade capture and escaped from the area. 

The actions of the alert squad members and armed civilians living in Moshav Yated to quickly counter the infiltrating terrorists prevented the loss of life in Moshav Yated; the only two residents killed that day, were attending a nearby music festival, in which 15 people were killed by Hamas militants. 

A reserve officer, Capt. (res.) Iftach Gorny, 52, was killed during fighting with terrorists on Route 232, as the troops fought to prevent further infiltration of the are along that road. 

As with the whole Gaza Envelope, the invasion attempt at Moshav Yated started with the rocket barrages from Gaza at 06:29, during which time, Hamas and other Palestinian faction terrorists began to breach the security fence. 

However, the residents in Moshav Yated responded quickly to events, and by 06:40, the moshav’s security coordinator had successfully activated the alert squad, closed the security gate to the moshav, and set up a security perimeter, with patrols by armed residents. 

At 09:15, the security coordinator and his deputy spotted a terrorist near the security fence, detaining him and placing him under armed guard. 

Minutes later, after a resident reported hearing someone speaking Arabic outside her door, residents began a search, which led to the discovery of several terrorists attempting to enter the community. 

Around this same time, an IDF team encountered multiple groups of Palestinian terrorists traveling along Route 232, and began to engage them in a firefight, preventing them from reaching Moshav Yated and other communities on the road. As the soldiers engaged multiple groups of fighters, Capt. Iftach Gorny was fatally wounded. Despite efforts to stabilize and resuscitate him, Capt. Gorny died before any medical teams could get to their location. 

At around 09:45, the alert squad at Moshav Yated surrounded a group of five terrorists. As they attempted to subdue the infiltrators, one escaped, fleeing from under the security gate. The others were transferred to the home in the moshav, where Nasreen Yousef, a Druze woman who spoke Arabic, helped to restrain and interrogate the captured fighters. 

IDF soldiers only reached Moshav Yated at around 01:30 on Oct. 8, setting up defensive positions. Later in the morning, after a soldier spotted movement in the agricultural area of the moshav, IDF troops began searches of the area, but did not find anyone. 

While the soldiers did not find the infiltrators, an armed resident of the moshav, conducting a patrol of the area where a breach in the fence had been identified, encountered five terrorists, who surrendered to him. After alerting the security coordinator, IDF soldiers came and restrained the terrorists. 

All the restrained terrorists were finally transferred out of Moshav Yated on Oct. 9, after the residents had been safely evacuated. 

In assessing the response of the community alert squad, the IDF investigation noted that “they made the right decisions and acted as expected.”

The report also praised the actions of the residents of the moshav, saying, “The volunteer spirit of the residents of the moshav, who are not an organic part of the moshav's defense force, is noteworthy.”