On Saturday morning, Capt. Eliav Maman, an officer in the Operations Directorate of the Kfir Brigade, was awakened like the rest of Israel, with news that terrorists had attacked Israel from Gaza. He saw on his phone the details unfolding as the media reported them in real-time. “We understood it's not good, we found ourselves getting ready.”
He went to join his unit and over the next hours prepared with the fighters to go towards the Gaza border.
The Kfir members went towards Gaza, first arriving at Sufa junction near Ofakim, he says. Terrorists had infiltrated Israel from more than 29 locations and attacked 20 border communities, as well as Sderot and Ofakim. This was a staging area for IDF units heading to the border to retake areas and stop the attack.
Fighting off the Hamas invasion in the Gaza border area
Between 3:30 and 4 in the afternoon, the officer said that Kfir units gathered and divided orders for various objectives and assignments.
“The commander of Kfir was in charge of going to Kibbutz Re'im,” he said.
They went via the Nitzan junction and battled terrorists. Overhead, Maman described how the air force was active and there were the sounds of war. The unit fought terrorists around Kibbutz Be’eri and fought in this area through Sunday morning, taking out more than 10 terrorists.
“The second activity taking place was led by the [Kfir] deputy commander. We wanted to get quickly to the parking lot near Re'im where the [Nova nature festival] was and then we began to see the unimaginable images, it was not easy, we neutralized more terrorists and began to help bring out the bodies. That was the second thing we did.”
The third operation the unit undertook on Saturday and Sunday was to provide aid and support in and around Kibbutz Be’eri. This area had been hit hard by terrorists, who had massacred hundreds at the nearby festival. But when the fighting was over, more than 100 bodies would be found in Be’eri.
According to Maman, Kfir joined numerous units active here. This included members of the IDF educational unit and also fighters from elite units such as Shayetet 13 and Duvdevan, as well as the 890th paratrooper battalion and reservists who had arrived at their units at the border. “There were many units working together from Sunday to today and we were able to clear the kibbutz [of terrorists].” They carried out operations to follow up the initial battle on Saturday and to make sure the kibbutz was completely secure.
“The IDF is strong and ready,” said the Kfir officer. “The people came with motivation to defend the country, we are ready for anything and ready for the next phase of the war. We are commanders and soldiers and ready for everything, we are ready for what comes, no matter when it will in the end, we will win, I am sure.”
The unit has seen the horrendous outcome of the massacres of October 7. He describes the pastoral area around the festival, an area of dunes and fields that became a site of a massacre. Rows of cars were shot up and destroyed as people tried to escape. There were bodies scattered around.
“It’s not normal, it’s inhumane. We began the battle there and after that began to take the bodies out to Nitzan [junction] and help the tanks.” The enemy did not distinguish between civilians and soldiers, police, and local security. Many sacrifices were made. The enemy also did not distinguish between Jews and non-Jews, all became victims, the officer says. For instance, several Bedouin Israelis who were minibus drivers helping the people at the festival were murdered by the terrorists. “They will pay for what they did,” says the soldier.