The IDF report Sunday on the battle at the Zikim IDF base on the Gaza border on October 7, 2023 gave high praise to the inexperienced and junior officers who fought the Hamas invaders, saving over a hundred lives although outnumbered and severely outgunned.

“The courage and determination demonstrated by commanders and soldiers prevented the capture of the base and the thwarting of Hamas’ plan,” the report stated.

In a decision that saved many lives, some 100 unarmed, mostly female new recruits to the Home Front Command’s base, were told by their commanders to hide in fortified shelters as the terrorists approached just before 7:30 AM.

There were also about 30 civilians put into hiding on the base after they rushed in from nearby beaches, fleeing from Hamas terrorists who were murdering anyone they found as they invaded the southern region of the country in their thousands.

There were 20 mostly junior commanders on the base during the holiday weekend who did almost all the fighting, repulsing two waves of terrorists after taking their recruits’ places at several guard positions on the base.

Five died in a battle at the shooting range gate, four of them from an RPG fired at the post. Two more soldiers and a civilian woman were also killed in various exchanges of fire, the report said.

The troops fought without the use of their communication devices, as Hamas had knocked out the power to the base during its the massive rocket attack at 6:29 AM that it had launched at Israel at the start of its invasion.

Several individuals were cited for particular heroism, including one of the new recruits, who fought barehanded against an armed terrorist when he entered the shelter the draftee and many others were hiding in.

He pushed the terrorist out of the shelter and beat him with his own gun before his assailant pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the head and arm before being shot dead by another trainee who ran out of the shelter to protect his comrade.

“Had the terrorist entered,” the report noted, “the consequences could have been catastrophic.”

The battles lasted for almost two hours, until a few senior IDF commanders arrived around 9:15 and killed the one remaining terrorist on the base.

The investigation included many hours of interviews with those who fought and were on the base, as well as reviews of the IDF’s radio communications, surveillance camera footage, and the soldiers’ WhatsApp messages.

It determined that the troops “demonstrated values ​​of commitment to the mission, striving for contact, responsibility, personal example, and friendship” that undoubtedly saved many of their comrades from death or being taken hostage.

The report also slammed several security lapses, including the low readiness at the base despite its position on the border.

“There was no effective firepower at the base despite its location in an operational zone,” the report stated. “If there had been machine guns, grenades, or anti-tank weapons, the outcome would have been even better.”

It also criticized the base commander for staying at his home in Sderot instead of coming to take charge in Zikim, although the town itself had also come under attack by dozens of Hamas terrorists.

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