7.10.360: The story of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai on October 7th

On the morning of Simchat Torah, a triathlon competition was to be held in the Yad Mordechai area, as part of the 80th celebrations for the kibbutz. Already at the sound of the first alarms, the kibbutz's security squad decides to cancel the event. The planned event caused residents who usually go for a morning run not to do so that day and stay in the kibbutz. At the Border police base, which is located inside the kibbutz, 12 soldiers enter the safe room. The two female soldiers who are guarding the gate run to lock the gate and wait for further instructions.

The commander of the southern district of the police, Chief Amir Cohen, announces "code Parash Pleshet" - an IDF and police emergency command given in the event of a hostile incursion into Israel. About ten minutes later, the command is transmitted via the police radio. Four Border Police fighters who are in the base inside the kibbutz get into an emergency vehicle, while mortars incessantly fall around them. Just before they leave the gate, the driver senses that this is an unusual event and decides to return and stock up on two more cartridges. After a few minutes, during which the electricity fell and there was no cellular reception, the generators in the kibbutz start working and the members of the security squad are dispatched.

The kibbutz's emergency squad has 16 members, most of whom have weapons at home and those who don't bring one from the armory. Two other soldiers who were in the kibbutz on Saturday are joined to the squad, and they all gather, waiting to receive instructions and dispatch to their positions. The Ravshatz of the kibbutz, Micha Regev, decides to patrol the kibbutz fence and notices a hovercraft infiltrating Netiv HaAsara. He then detects suspicious traffic near the fence from the direction of Highway 4. He fires at terrorists traveling in vans and motorcycles on Highway 4 from the south towards the Yad Mordechai junction.

Four Border Police fighters who left the kibbutz arrive at the Yad Mordechai intersection and notice a civilian traveling from south to north on Highway 4. He is wounded and alerts that terrorists are on their way to the intersection. Within a few seconds, more than 15 terrorists in vans and motorcycles arrive at the intersection and start shooting toward the fighters. The terrorists get off their vehicles, advance towards the fighters, and a battle is fought from about 30 meters away.

One of the fighters runs out of cartridges. He asks the fighter next to him to cover for him, and in the process, he takes pictures of the location for his friends so they can arrive and assist. The terrorists fire three RPG rockets at the fighters - one exploding about ten meters from them, the other two exploding further away. A Border Police soldier who was dispatched from her home arrives at the intersection, notices what is happening, and updates her mother on the phone that she sees terrorists. Meanwhile, more defense forces are making their way to the Yad Mordechai intersection.

Seven fighters of the police special forces, under the command of Commander Arnon Zamora, travel toward Nir Am. As they approach the Yad Mordechai junction, they instruct the IDF fighters to cease fire and charge the terrorists themselves. After a battle that lasts about an hour, they kill 13 terrorists hiding in a ditch on the east side of Highway 4 and injure three more terrorists who manage to escape.

A unit of the security squad that is stationed near the kibbutz's dairy farm identifies two vans of terrorists in the southern orchards and alerts the forces to it. The police special forces breaks through the kibbutz fence using an armored vehicle. The force splits up so that part of it reaches the dairy farm, another part advances south along the fence to rule out incursion, while Arnon Zamora advances on foot parallel to them, along Route 4, while scanning the area in an attempt to locate the three escaped terrorists.

The terrorists hide in the orchards and try to ambush the fighters. Arnon Zamora detects the terrorists. His force joins him and together they kill 20 more terrorists. The force fires a Lao missile at the terrorists' van, fearing it is booby-trapped, and destroys it. On the bodies of the terrorists were found maps of the Yad Mordechai junction, Plugot Junctuin, Kfar Silver, and Tel Nof base.

Arnon Zamora and his fighters are forced to leave Yad Mordechai and continue fighting in Nahal Oz, Sderot and Beeri. A Yamas Police force that arrives to take their place encounters the three terrorists wounded earlier and kills them after the latter open fire at them. Throughout the day, many rockets are fired into the area, some of which fall around the dairy farm and the farm area.

Since the morning, three civilians who went for a run are hiding about a kilometer south of the kibbutz. After about five hours a force of fighters arrives to defend them. Four of the fighters head towards suspicious traffic and three stay put to protect the runners, after about half an hour they are attacked by armed terrorists. After a long battle, the terrorists throw grenades and murder Kobi Pariente and Naomi Shitrit Azulay and kill Sgt. Itay Marciano and Sgt. Ilay Gamzo. The four fighters who left earlier return to the remaining fighter and kill the rest of the terrorists except one who is taken for interrogation. Maps of Yad Mordechai were found on the bodies of the terrorists.

The security squad continues to stand post at various points throughout the kibbutz, recruiting volunteers, and gradually decides to evacuate families from the kibbutz. A decision is made to open a route to get the residents out and they are evacuated to family and friends.

Koral Yisrael and Adar Buzaglo are hiding since the morning in the bushes near the gas station at the Yad Mordechai junction. They fled the Nova Festival along with their friend, Ofek Arbiv, a soldier in the Paratrooper Brigade who is just about to finish his military service. As they exited the party in a vehicle, Ofek detected terrorists opening fire at them and told them to lower their heads. Ofek was shot and seriously wounded. Koral and Adar call Magen David Adom and perform CPR on Ofek. At 7:15 p.m., near the Yad Mordechai gas station, the vehicle halts. Ofek is wounded, bleeding, and unconscious. Adar and Koral ran and hide and tried to call Magen David Adom and police forces but to no avail. Around 6:00 pm, a Border Police soldier spots Ofek's body in the vehicle and takes it out. Koral's sister uploads a post and asks for assistance in finding her so the emergency squad arrives and rescues the two.