An internal investigation eventually revealed that the IDF fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) into a home where captives were held, shelling the house repeatedly with a tank and then unloading on the people inside with a hail of bullets. One of three hostage face-offs between Hamas and the IDF happened at Be'eri resident Pessi Cohen's house, where six civilians were held outside his home, while another nine were held inside the house.
According to reports, at 3:08 p.m. a first phone call was made to police regarding hostages but the report was forwarded to troops as a hostage situation at Be'eri's dining hall and not at Cohen's home. Meanwhile, before knowing that hostages were held in the house, members of the police's elite Yamam unit fired a shoulder-launched missile towards the residence after coming under a machine gun and RPG fire from it.
At 5:00 p.m. one of the eight terrorists inside Cohen's home surrendered to Israeli forces, using one of the survivors, Yasmin Porat, as a human shield as he exited the house. This saved her life.
After this, IDF Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, though not in "ground zero," approved firing light tank shells near and at the building to pressure the terrorists inside to surrender. At 5:33 p.m., Yamam and Shin Bet commanders ordered Hazan's tank to fire the first light tank shell near the building. The first shell struck the pathway leading to the home.
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Soon after, Hiram arrived at Cohen's home and ordered the commander to finish within 40 minutes as the sun was already setting. After about 20 minutes, Hiram left to handle other incidents in Be'eri.
At 6:26 p.m., Hamas commanders called their people at Cohen's home to tell them to run away. A minute later, a second light tank shell was launched at the pathway. A few minutes later, a third shell was launched, which according to the probe, bounced off the ground. A shrapnel killed hostage Adi Dagan, 68, and injured his wife, Hadas Dagan, 70. A fourth shell was launched at 6:57 p.m., which targeted the roof.
At 7:57 p.m., a long burst of gunfire was heard by the forces. After a period of silence and not hearing from the hostages, the special forces decided to enter the home, engaging in a gun battle with the remaining terrorists inside. Only one of the hostages survived the exchange of fire. The causes of death of the 13 other hostages have not been definitively identified, though many were apparently killed by gunfire.
A Times of Israel article reported that the probe indicated that the decision to approve tank shelling was done "with professionalism" and that Hiram made "responsible decisions."
The investigation also said that since the IDF had been trained for "single intrusions" only, there were no troops that could be sent to Be’eri amid the widescale attack. During that time, the army had difficulty in building a clear picture of what was happening in Be'eri until the afternoon hours.
In all, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed in Be'eri and 30 residents and two civilians were taken hostage by Hamas, 11 of whom remain in Gaza. At least 125 homes in the community were damaged and destroyed amid the fighting. (Related: Israeli military investigation reveals many Oct. 7 Israeli casualties were caused by IDF rather than Hamas.)
IDF went MIA in the middle of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, leaving Israelis to die
Responding to the inquiry, IDF's Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said it "clearly illustrates the magnitude of the failure and the scale of the disaster that befell the residents of the south who defended their families with their bodies for many hours while the IDF was not there to protect them."
As troops were not prepared for the attack, there had been "no additional reserve forces in the area" to send to Be'eri. Instead, residents were left to defend themselves for hours.
"We appreciate the army taking responsibility and acknowledging its catastrophic failure to protect us," the kibbutz Be’eri said in a statement in response to the IDF's report. "While the investigation is a step toward answers, critical questions remain unanswered such as why the army forces at the kibbutz’s entrance didn’t enter the kibbutz despite our desperate pleas for rescue."
Survivors of the attack on Be'eri described hiding in their homes for hours desperately trying to reach loved ones.
"They left us to die," Be'eri resident Liel Fishbien told NBC News of Israeli forces shortly after the attack.
More than nine months later, he said that while he appreciated the inquiry's findings, "I know they failed. It's not new to me that they failed. Taking responsibility's important, of course, but I care more about what they've learned to make this thing not happen again," he said.
Visit IsraelCollapse.com for more news related to the conflict in Gaza.
Watch the video below that talks about Israel's Hannibal Directive that killed its own people on Oct. 7.
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Here's what REALLY happened on October 7 (hint: Israel is LYING).
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