Mivtahim

As part of the surprise attack on Israel, about 20 Hamas terrorists stormed Moshav Mivtahim, with the aim of massacring and kidnapping residents of the moshav. The members of the moshav’s civil defense team, together with members of their counterparts in the nearby Moshav Yesha, waged a battle with the terrorists and managed to stop them from carrying out a massacre. Five members of those two teams were killed in the battles. With their bravery, they saved the residents of Mivtahim and all seven communities that make up the “Tzohar Block”.
The civil defense team realized that at the entrance to the Zohar communities, a terrorist unit was killing all passers-by, so they rushed to the intersection next to the moshav and found a terrorist cell shooting assault rifles and RPGs. The team engaged the terrorists in fierce fighting, and while the battle was being conducted, they discovered the bodies of two young people from the moshav. Dor Nahum and Chen Ben Avi were murdered in cold blood by Hamas gunfire, after they had managed to escape the massacre at the “Nova” party that took place in Re’im with three other friends; all five were gunned down in their car as they tried to return home to safety.

At a certain point during the battle, the members of the civil defense team decided to fall back and return to the moshav; worried the terrorists would infiltrate the community, and feared for the lives of the worshipers in the synagogue who were celebrating Simchat Torah. As they rushed back to the moshav they encountered about 20 armed terrorists trying to enter people’s homes.  The team fought fiercely, but unfortunately the number of terrorists outnumbered the defenders and two of them were killed in the battle. Security Chief Dan Assulin, Tal Maman, and three members of the defense team of the nearby Moshav Yesha (who joined the fighting in Mivtahim) were all killed in the fighting. At 2pm, the first IDF special force arrived, overpowering the invaders and retook Mivtahim.

Atallah, a 5-year-old Israeli Arab boy, a resident of Rahat, had joined his father on the morning of October 7th to work in the plantations near the moshav. Hamas terrorists shot and killed his father, and also hit Atallah, who was very seriously injured. Police officers who arrived in the area after a shootout with the terrorists gave Atallah life-saving treatment in the field and evacuated him to hospital. While recovering in the hospital, Atallah was visited by Negev Region Assistant Commissioner Effi Shiman, Magen Unit Chief Superintendent Ronen Kalafon, and the two officers who saved his life. Atallah told them that when he grows up he now wants to become a police officer. Mivtahim residents have this message to the world on their Fundme page. “We ask for your help in restoring our moshav, and through our prayers, we hope that it will once again become a safe haven for all its inhabitants.”