Netiv HaAsara Attack

The Netiv HaAsara massacre occurred during the October 7 attacks. Three Hamas fighters on paragliders attacked Netiv HaAsara, an Israeli moshav close to the border fence. The militants killed at least 17 people. Before the massacre, the moshav was home to approximately 900 residents. The lengthy response time of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been criticized by survivors. Additionally, an IDF investigation criticized the conduct of the 37 Israeli soldiers and security officers present, finding that they were unable to stop the massacre.

Background

Netiv HaAsara, a moshav founded in 1982, is home to a population of 900. Following the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Netiv HaAsara became the closest Israeli community to the Gaza Strip, situated 100 meters from the Palestinian towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanon. Residents in Netiv HaAsara have claimed to witness Hamas militants training.

Attack

On the morning of 7 October 2023, between 6:39 and 6:42a.m. local time, three Hamas militants infiltrated separate areas of Netiv HaAsara on motorized paragliders as an advance party ahead of the main force of an estimated 30 fighters from Hamas' Nukhba forces, who were to infiltrate by land from Gaza. A local security officer and his son, who was an off-duty soldier, spotted two of the militants before they landed and opened fire before alerting the rest of the security team of 25. They fired dozens of rounds at them. Although they failed to hit the militants they disrupted their landing, forcing them to land separately and delaying their regrouping. The main force attempted to infiltrate the moshav but they were unable to breach its perimeter wall and retreated towards the Erez crossing. However, the three fighters in the moshav began to massacre residents.

Netiv HaAsara's security coordinator sent a WhatsApp message alerting the 25-member security team, instructing them to aim their guns out their windows to defend their homes and neighbors, fearing the possibility of friendly fire with the IDF if they went outside to engage the attackers. Unlike other local settlements in which the local weapons were mostly kept in armories, the members of Netiv HaAsara's security team kept their weapons at home. Two security team members defied orders and left their homes to fight but the majority remained in their homes with their weapons at the ready. Eight soldiers from the 7th Armored Brigade's 77th Battalion arrived at the moshav at around the same time, bringing the total number of armed personnel to 37, including a battalion commander.

At the time of the invasion, many residents had fled to their home's safe rooms after the initial rocket barrage at 6:29a.m. For the first two hours of the invasion, residents did not know that Hamas militants had entered Israeli territory due to the unavailability of power or internet access. Some residents were trapped in safe rooms without power.

One of the gunmen was killed by a local security officer, Alon Keren, at 7:07a.m. The other two continued massacring residents until 8:10. Between 8:12 and 8:15a.m., members of the security team and soldiers confronted the remaining two gunmen and exchanged fire with them. One local security officer was killed in the shootout before the militants fled towards Gaza, hiding in a grove near the moshav before returning to Gaza at 8:34a.m., where they would be killed later in the war. At 7:15a.m., the Israeli Air Force (IAF) targeted a tunnel that was thought to have been used to send Hamas fighters to the moshav, resulting in the IAF's first attack on Hamas of the Gaza war. No militants were in the tunnel. A minute earlier, a combat drone attacked militants at the moshav but missed.

Reinforcements were sent to the moshav by 11:30a.m. Between 12:14 and 12:47p.m., seven unaffiliated Palestinian looters infiltrated the moshav in cars through the breached Gaza–Israel barrier. Some of them broke into a home and were shot at by the homeowner, injuring one. Four of the Palestinians were captured by the IDF, while the rest fled to Gaza.

At least 17 residents were killed in the attack, including three members of the moshav's security team. Some sources have reported that 20 residents were killed. One security officer was killed by rocket fire in a shelter, and his two children were injured. The victims also included Yakovi and Bilha Inon, parents of Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon. No soldiers from the IDF were killed, and no hostages were taken.

Aftermath

The victims of the attack are commemorated by a garden with an Israeli flag surrounded by twenty olive trees. On 6 August 2024, the IDF announced that they had found evidence that Bilha Yinon, the last resident listed as missing, had died in the attack. According to Yinon's family, the evidence included two of her teeth. Since the massacre, most residents have been displaced from Netiv HaAsara; as of October 2024, only about 100 people lived in Netiv HaAsara. In September 2024, the IDF reported that they had killed the Hamas commander who led the attack on Netiv HaAsara.

Survivors have criticized the Israeli government for not preventing the attack and for the lengthy response time of the IDF. In March 2025, the IDF's investigation into the massacre was released. It was highly critical of the conduct of the security team and IDF troops present, describing it as the "most frustrating" of the October 7 battle reports. Despite full military superiority over the militants, with a large security team that was one of the best-trained such teams in the region as well the rapid arrival of IDF troops including a senior commander, the 37 armed Israelis present failed to stop three militants from carrying out a massacre in the moshav. The investigation found that the security coordinator ordered members of the security team to remain in their homes instead of confronting the militants. The security coordinator later explained his actions as a lapse in judgement and due to fear of friendly fire from IDF troops. The investigation also found that the IDF troops present did not follow proper procedure, with them failing to secure the area and carrying out slow scans of the moshav.

See also

* Re'im music festival massacre
* Gaza war
* Outline of the Gaza war
* List of military engagements during the Gaza war
* Palestinian political violence
* Moshe Dayan's eulogy for Ro'i Rothberg
* List of massacres in Israel

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Kenan Reuveni
We Interviewed Them Six Months Ago. Last Week Hamas Murdered Them
Haaretz, October 15, 2023

{{Massacres or pogroms against Jews
2023 massacres of the Gaza war
Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups
21st-century mass murder in Israel
2023 mass shootings in Asia
Mass shootings in Israel
October 2023 in Israel
Mass kidnappings in the 2020s
October 7 attacks
Massacres in Israel during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict