Residents of Kibbutz Gevim, near Sderot, were left almost entirely on their own during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault, with their local defense squad preventing a massacre by holding off terrorists for hours until reinforcements arrived.
The Israel Defense Forces’ inquiry, led by Lt. Col. (res.) Israel Shitrit, detailed how eight Hamas gunmen reached the kibbutz just after dawn, attempting to storm the community of 700 people. While four residents were wounded, the attackers never breached the perimeter and eventually diverted to other targets. Investigators credited the “resourcefulness and bravery” of Gevim’s civilian defenders with saving countless lives.
“The kibbutz was not penetrated, but this was thanks only to the courage of its people,” the report said.
According to the timeline, at 6:29 a.m. rocket sirens sounded across the western Negev. By 6:58, Hamas terrorists moving from the direction of Kfar Aza reached industrial sites near Gevim. The kibbutz’s security coordinator summoned his deputy and the local standby squad, but at that moment only five rifles were available, with most weapons locked in the armory.