Before last Saturday, the kibbutz of Be’er was known especially for its successful printing house, cultural life and art galleries. It is one of the most iconic and successful kibbutzim in Israel, describes The Times of Israel.
Now about a tenth of the kibbutz residents have been killed. The trail of the fighters of the terrorist organization Hamas, who attacked the kibbutz on Saturday, has been found at least 110 dead.
The kibbutz has become a symbol of Hamas attacks.
The Be’er kibbutz is one of the last to be liberated by Israel from Hamas.
This story tells how the attack by Hamas progressed and what kind of village the terrorists destroyed.
Attackers at the gate
The attack on Be’er began early on Saturday morning, the Jewish holiday.
Security camera videos from the kibbutz gate show two armed men trying to enter the kibbutz. At this point, the video shows it’s a little after six o’clock. A car approaches the gate from outside, and gunmen shoot the people in the car. Then they tune in.
The security camera video taken later in the morning shows the same car inside the gates. Several fighters appear to be making sure the people in the car are dead.
You can watch the video recorded by the security camera below. The video images may shock the viewer.
A traditional kibbutz
Between 1,000 and 1,200 people lived in the Be’er kibbutz. It is located a few kilometers from the Gaza border.
A family man living in a kibbutz Lotan Pinyan describes for CNN village as a place where you want to raise your children. The fields are green, the sunset is beautiful. Residents sometimes said that the kibbutz is so close to Gaza because otherwise it would be too perfect.
The occasional Hamas rockets were the minus side of the otherwise idyllic village.
Having spent his childhood in Be’er Yotam Kipnis your picture again For the Guardian, that the kibbutz has long been afraid of atrocity of the same scale that was experienced over the weekend. His parents still lived there, and Kipnis had not been able to contact them since Saturday morning.
There are kibbutzim near the Gaza border, whose residents tend to lean politically to the left and support Palestinian rights and peace initiatives, he estimates The New York Times.
Spouse of Lotan Pinyan Michal Pinyan says that many consider the residents of Gaza to be their neighbors.
– People from Gaza worked in the kibbutz and they were part of the community. Their children were in daycare. When they could no longer work here, we collected money, and the funds are now keeping them alive, he described.
Be’eri is a traditional kibbutz, where community has been maintained. In the past, kibbutzim were collective rural communities. Most of them are now privatized. Kibbutzim have largely become ordinary residential communities where residents receive some social benefits.
Be’er residents interviewed by CNN said that the residents eat together and share everything, including their wages.
“I’ve never seen anything like this”
At 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, the kibbutz woke up to an alarm siren warning of a rocket attack.
– 45 minutes later we started receiving messages that there are terrorists in the kibbutz, Lotan Pinyan told CNN.
Among the first soldiers to enter the kibbutz was a major general Itai Veruv said that “hundreds of terrorists from different directions” entered Be’er.
– I have served for almost 40 years in wars and major operations in Israel, and I have never seen anything like this, Veruv said For The Financial Times.
– They shot indiscriminately, caught whoever they could and burned houses so that people would have to escape through the window – behind which the terrorists were waiting, a survivor of the attack described Haim Jelin the day after the attack to Army Radio Sunday The Times of Israel by.
Residents called for help and tried to hide where they could. Many were locked in safe rooms, even for more than two days. Safe rooms protect people from rockets, and such must be built in all new homes in Israel.
Lotan and Michal Pinyan also locked themselves in the security room. Their safe room could not be locked from the inside as it was not designed for break-ins. The family used the things in the room to bolt the door shut.
Michal Pinyan had previously texted with his parents. The mother told about the shots on the balcony. In one of her last messages, her mother had said that her father had been shot. And that the house’s safe room has been blown up. Then the messages stopped.
The number of abductees is unknown
The extremist organization Hamas also kidnapped people. It is not known how many people.
There is evidence of abduction of some. An 85-year-old who has lived in Be’er for most of his life Yaffa Adar has been seen on video. In it, he sits calmly in a car surrounded by laughing men.
One are suspected of being kidnapped 74 years old from Canada Vivian Silver. Silver has been one of the leaders in the Women Wage Peace movement, which pushes for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Silver has also worked, for example, as a volunteer in an organization that drove sick people from Gaza to the Israeli side to receive treatment.
At least as of Tuesday, a 25-year-old paramedic was also missing Amit Man, who hid in the kibbutz clinic for six hours with the wounded. Tells about his text messaging with his sister The Times of Israel. Around two in the afternoon, he wrote: “They (the attackers) are here. I don’t think I’ll make it. Be strong if something happens to me”.
Man had asked many times where the army was and if it would come to save the kibbutz.
Israel has been heavily criticized in retrospect for how long it took the security forces to help the villages in the border region.
Hands to cover children’s eyes
According to some information, the Israeli Air Force would have sent two of its special forces teams to the kibbutz by helicopter. Apparently the attackers overpowered them, he opined The Times of Israel.
When the Israeli army then arrived at the kibbutz, the battle was slow and brutal, describes Major General Veruv. Entering the kibbutz was time-consuming, as was moving from house to house. Some of the militants were dressed in Israeli Defense Forces uniforms.
– Terrorist groups were hiding in houses one after the other. They were ready and attacked again and again, Veruv said For The Washington Post.
The army had to take into account the hostages taken by Hamas. Veruv showed reporters a two-story house where 40 people were held hostage at the time. There were more than 20 attackers in the house. The fight for the house was very difficult. Six soldiers died.
In all, more than a hundred Palestinian fighters were killed, according to the army.
The Times of Israel reported on Sunday that all the residents of the kibbutz had been released 17 hours after Hamas took over the kibbutz. The village was declared “clean” on Monday, but attackers still appeared hours after that.
However, it will be weeks before we know exactly how many people were killed in Be’er, concluded the major Doron Spielman The Times of Israel – in the newspaper yesterday Thursday.
Pinyan’s family spent about 20 hours in the safe room. Without food, water or toilet.
– The children never once asked for anything. Not once, Michal Pinyan tells CNN.
They were saved by 15 soldiers entering the house and forming a tight ring around the family – and walking them to safety. According to the family, there was still fighting on the kibbutz at that time.
Lotan Pinyan says he covered the children’s eyes so they wouldn’t see the dead.