Kan 7.10.360 | The story of Kibbutz Mefalsim on October 7

Upon hearing Red Color alarms in the kibbutz, residents enter the safe rooms. During the prolonged barrage, the head of the Shaar HaNegev Council, Ofir Libstein, calls the security coordinator at Mefalsim, Moshe Kaplan, reminding him to shut down a camping event taking place in the grove adjacent to the kibbutz. Moses drives to the scene, gathers some civilians remaining in the area, and shuts down the event. He returns with them to the kibbutz and closes one of the rear entrance gates.

The Ravshatz Moshe Kaplan, drives towards the main entrance gate and sees a cluster of cars outside the gate. A few moments later, he realizes that there are terrorists in the cars and that they are shooting at him. He returns to his house to regroup for fighting, dispatches the 16 members of the security squad, and adds: “Shots fired at the Kibbutz at the entrance gate." They are joined by several armed residents and seven Kibbutz members, IDF soldiers at home for the holiday break. Among them are three sons of security squad members.

Yuval Shuster and a member of the security squad, Nir Braude, arrive at the kibbutz gate. On the road that leads to the kibbutz, Yuval identifies the body of a civilian shot by the terrorists a short time earlier. He jumps over the gate and reaches the nearby shelter, where several people are staying. While Yuval talks with them, Nir detects terrorists from afar and calls for Yuval, who jumps over the gate back to the kibbutz. Yuval and Nir identify about ten terrorists. As they are dressed in civilian clothes, Yuval fires first into the air, after which one of the terrorists calls out to him: “Ta'al, Ta'al” (come, come). Yuval and Nir take cover and conduct an hour-long exchange of fire with the terrorists.

Yarden Raskin, another member of the security squad, spots three terrorists moving along the fence outside the kibbutz, near the main gate. Yarden fires at them, killing one of them. The other two terrorists flee towards the main gate

Moshe Kaplan, the Ravshatz, identifies four terrorists blowing up a side entrance gate. He opens fire at them and alerts the members of the security squad. For 15 minutes, Moshe exchanges fire with them on his own, but unfortunately, he is unsuccessful. The terrorists infiltrate the kibbutz. Soon after, he is joined by four soldiers, members of the kibbutz. Two of them, Shahaf Damari and Nitzan Ben Shushan, arrive at a house near the gate from which the terrorists infiltrated. The terrorists throw a grenade and an explosive charge at them. Shahaf and Nitzan are hit by shrapnel and evacuated to the situation room.

Security squad member Shaked Porat encounters four terrorists who infiltrated the kibbutz. As the terrorists are not wearing uniforms, Shaked first thinks they are members of the security squad and calls them out. One of the terrorists lowers his weapon and calls out to him in Arabic "Come, Come". Shaked realizes that these are terrorists, shoots at them, and kills two of them. The other two terrorists escape. Around 8 AM, Yuval and Nir, who are fighting at the main gate, begin to run out of ammunition. One of the terrorists blows up the pedestrian gate and several terrorists enter. Yuval and Nir hide in the kibbutz and lose contact with each other.

After the terrorists blow up the gate, they arrive at the residential area of the farmworkers from Thailand. In the absence of a safe room in their homes, the 12 employees are in a nearby shelter. The workers beg for their lives and say, “This is Thailand.” The terrorists put them at gunpoint on a cart attached to a tractor and demand they drive the cart to the main gate. Meanwhile, one of the workers tries unsuccessfully to contact a kibbutz member - the terrorists shoot at his phone. The tractor arrives at the kibbutz gate, where the terrorists demand the workers open the entrance gate. The workers do not comply, and the terrorists drag them out through the pedestrian gate.

Security squad members Yarden Raskin and Idan Meyerovich rush to a residential neighborhood in the kibbutz, after receiving a report of terrorists in the area. While scanning the area they spot more than ten terrorists on the kibbutz's main road and follow them, slowly walking behind them. One of the residents, Idan Kadosh, joins them with his personal gun. When the three identify terrorists near one of the houses, they shoot at them, but Yarden runs out of ammunition and Meyerovich's weapon malfunctions. The terrorist's fire an RPG at the three, but the rocket does not explode.

Security squad member Didi Rosenberg, who is looking out on the fences of the kibbutz from the balcony of his house, detects a force of about 10 terrorists in a van and two motorcycles heading from the field toward a side gate. Didi and security squad members Eli Levy and Abby Rahaf fire from the house at the terrorists, who are about 20 meters away from the fence. Noam Kazaz, whose house was hit by a rocket during the morning barrages, also shoots from Avi's house. After about half an hour of exchange of fire, several of the terrorists are hit and flee. After a while, the rest of the terrorists are forced to retreat.

While Shin Bet and police special forces troops arrive near the kibbutz gate, the Thai workers are outside the gate. One of the workers notices the defense forces and instructs his comrades to lie on the floor. Defense forces open fire. The workers are not harmed, and a short time later the members of the security squad gather them back into the kibbutz and concentrate them in a secure building

Kibbutz member Aryeh Hodera and his son report to the situation room that terrorists have infiltrated their home. While the terrorists loot the house, Aryeh jumps out the window and runs to a neighbor to get a weapon. Two kibbutz members arrive, spot the terrorists outside the house, and open fire at them. One terrorist is hit, and the other flees into the house, seeing the family members, throwing away his combat gear and raising his hands. The family members talk to him for about 15 minutes until two members of the emergency squad arrive and take the terrorist to the situation room. Later, the IDF arrests him and hands him over for interrogation.

Yuval Shuster joins a force of Sayeret Matkal commando Unit who begin to search the kibbutz. For about five hours, other security squad members, along with other forces, continue scanning for terrorists.

In the evening, residents begin to leave the kibbutz independently. They will continue to evacuate throughout that night and the following morning.