Forces cleared major junction, stopped abduction of 12 workers in Mefalsim on Oct. 7

Members of the police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit and Shin Bet security agency retook control of a major junction in southern Israel captured by terrorists during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, significantly halting Hamas’s advance and allowing troops to reach other areas under attack.

At the entrance to the nearby Kibbutz Mefalsim, the Yamam and Shin Bet officers, together with members of the local security team, managed to prevent the abduction of 12 foreign workers, according to an Israel Defense Forces probe published Thursday.

No civilians were killed or abducted from the kibbutz itself on October 7.

During the fighting at the Shaar Hanegev Junction, the Black Arrow memorial site, and a section of Route 232 that connects between them, 13 members of Israel’s security forces were killed — six IDF soldiers, six police officers of the Yamam unit, and a Shin Bet fighter. The body of one soldier was abducted by the terrorists during the fighting. The IDF recovered his remains in Gaza in December 2023.

In Hamas’s attack along Route 232, including several roadside bomb shelters, 77 Israeli civilians were murdered and dozens were abducted. Details of the massacre on the highway and at the bomb shelters are being covered in a separate investigation that has not yet been released by the army.

The IDF probe into the attack on the Mefalsim area found that the actions of the Yamam and Shin Bet officers at Shaar Hanegev Junction and the entrance to the kibbutz “saved many lives and prevented widespread kidnapping to the Gaza Strip.”

“The actions of IDF troops, ground and air forces, along with the security coordinator [of the kibbutz], residents, and civil defense squad, are worthy of appreciation for blocking the terrorists’ attack,” the investigation stated.

The findings published Tuesday are the latest in a series of detailed investigations into some 40 battles and massacres that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when about 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, killed some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages into Gaza, where dozens remain captive.

Similar to other investigations, the probe concluded that the IDF “failed in its mission to protect” the residents of Mefalsim and those in the surrounding area, mainly because the military never prepared for such an event: an Israeli community being attacked by terrorists, as well as a widespread attack on numerous towns and army bases simultaneously by thousands of terrorists. The military also lacked an intelligence warning, and therefore, troops were unprepared for Hamas’s attack.

The probe, carried out by Col. Arik Moyal — the incoming commander of the Nahal Brigade — covered all aspects of the fighting in Kibbutz Mefalsim, the nearby Black Arrow memorial site, and the Shaar Hanegev Junction.

The IDF said the investigators made visits to the scene and reviewed every possible source of information, including footage taken by terrorists, residents’ text messages, surveillance videos, the army’s radio communications, and interviews with survivors.

The Mefalsim probe was aimed at drawing specific operational conclusions for the military. It did not examine the wider picture of the military’s perception of Gaza and Hamas in recent years, which has been covered in separate, larger investigations into the IDF’s intelligence and defenses.

According to the investigation, more than 200 terrorists infiltrated the Mefalsim area in three main waves, carrying out “massacres, abductions, looting, and other cruel crimes.” Of the terrorists, some 30 managed to breach the kibbutz.

Shaar Hanegev Junction attack

At 6:30 a.m., some 80 Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza border barrier near Mefalsim. Thirty headed to the kibbutz, and 50 others attacked the Shaar Hanegev Junction and Black Arrow memorial site. An hour later, another 80 terrorists infiltrated from Gaza, heading to Mefalsim and the Black Arrow site, while setting up ambushes on a bend along Route 232.

At 7:07 a.m., the terrorists reached the Shaar Hanegev Junction and took up positions near a train bridge. The terrorists opened fire on passing vehicles, killing and wounding civilians.

At 8 a.m., Yamam officers who reached the junction came under fire, and one was wounded. A short while later, an Israeli Air Force drone carried out a strike at the junction to disrupt Hamas’s attack.

Additional Yamam officers reached the junction from both the north and south at 8:17 a.m., battling the terrorists there until they regained control of the area. By recapturing the junction, numerous forces were able to head south and reach other areas under attack.

During the fighting, six Yamam officers were killed:  Chief Inspector Avraham Hankin, Sgt. Maj. Bar Sivan, First Sgt. Dror Altun, Supt. Moshael Shlomo, Master Sgt. Avshalom Peretz, and Sgt. Maj. Yorai Cohen.

Also during the fighting, IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, a logistics supervisor in the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, was killed by the terrorists and abducted to Gaza. His body was recovered by the IDF in December 2023.

Fighting at the kibbutz

At 7:10 a.m., five members of Mefalsim’s civil defense squad engaged terrorists at the entrance to the kibbutz. A short while later, two off-duty soldiers were wounded battling terrorists trying to infiltrate via a back gate to the kibbutz.

Some 30 terrorists managed to infiltrate the kibbutz at 8 a.m. via the main gate and abduct 12 foreign workers. The terrorists also stole a tractor and drove it to a roadside bomb shelter at the entrance of Mefalsim, where they held the abducted workers.

Another group of 12 terrorists tried to infiltrate from the southwest at 9:25 a.m., but were repelled by the local security team, who managed to kill and wound several of the attackers.

At 9:30 a.m., Yamam and Shin Bet forces reached the kibbutz and exchanged fire with the terrorists at the entrance. The troops killed many of the terrorists, while the others fled, and all 12 abducted foreign workers were rescued.

During the fighting at the entrance to Mefalsim, Shin Bet officer Yossi Tahar was killed.

By 10:20 a.m., the community’s security coordinator confirmed that the kibbutz was back under control, and the troops headed for Re’im as Hamas was also attacking that area.

During the afternoon and evening, residents of Mefalsim evacuated themselves, and later that night, IDF troops reached the area and carried out additional scans. At 8:30 p.m., troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit mistakenly fired on a civilian car inside Mefalsim, lightly wounding the passengers.

Black Arrow and the Mefalsim bend

At 6:42 a.m., troops deployed to the Gaza border near Mefalsim spotted 10 pickup trucks and five motorcycles crossing the fence. The soldiers tried to open fire from a tank and an armored personnel carrier, but were unable to hit the infiltrators. The soldiers were then ordered to head for Nahal Oz and Kfar Aza, which were also coming under attack.

From around 6:45 a.m., terrorists streaming into Israel via the Black Arrow memorial site reached Route 232 and began ambushing civilians driving through the area.

At 9:45 a.m., troops of the Maglan commando unit and officers of the police’s Yamas patrol unit scanned Route 232 and killed several terrorists hiding in the trees. At 10 a.m., they reached the Black Arrow site and began scanning the area, alongside members of the Yahalom combat engineering unit who also arrived there.

At 10:30 a.m., Yamam officers who headed out of Mefalsim were ambushed by terrorists at a bend in the highway near the kibbutz, known as the Mefalsim bend. The officers engaged the terrorists, as Maglan commandos and a company commander in the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, joined in the fighting.

The company commander, Maj. Tal Grushka, who rushed to southern Israel from the West Bank, drove his Tigris light armored vehicle into the heart of the battle to block the terrorists’ gunfire on the Maglan commandos. Grushka opened fire on the terrorists from his armored car, and together with other troops, managed to kill 10 of the terrorists.

Grushka was fatally wounded in the exchange and later died of his wounds.

Additional troops arrived at the Black Arrow site over the following hours, killing additional terrorists still in the area.

At 11:20 a.m., dozens more terrorists on vehicles breached into Israel in the area, and an IAF drone conducted strikes, halting their advance. Troops in the area also set up a defensive line at the entrance to the memorial site, repelling continued infiltration attempts.

As the fighting ended in the area around noon, several wounded soldiers were evacuated.

Fighting in the following days

On the morning of October 8, Col. (res.) Lion Bar, a recently retired senior officer, arrived at the Route 232 area with his son at around 10:20 a.m. to assist with evacuating bodies from the nearby orchards.

Bar headed toward Kibbutz Kfar Aza shortly after noon, and upon reaching the Mefalsim bend, he met a civilian who reported coming under fire. Bar got out of his car with his team, and they eliminated the terrorist. He was wounded in the exchange and later died.

On October 9, troops of the 551st Reserve Paratroopers Brigade clashed with terrorists near the Shaar Hanegev Junction at around 7:30 a.m. During the exchange, Maj. (res.) Dr. Eitan Menachem Neeman, Master Sgt. (res.) Avihay Amsalem, and Cpt. Yuval Halivni were killed. A tank arrived a short while later and ran over the terrorists, killing them.

On October 10 at 5 p.m., terrorists opened fire on a vehicle near the junction. Numerous troops rushed to the area and identified the terrorists using a drone. Soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, along with a tank, killed the terrorists, ending the fighting in the area.