Alumim massacre

Alumim massacre
Part of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Kibbutz Alumim gate on December 2014
Native name	הטבח בעלומים
Location	Alumim, Southern District, Israel
Coordinates	31°27′6″N 34°30′49″E
Date	7 October 2023 (2023-10-07)
Attack type	Mass shooting, mass murder, war crime
Deaths	21
Perpetrator	Hamas

The Alumim massacre was an attack which took place on 7 October 2023, as part of the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. During the attack, approximately 30 Hamas militants infiltrated the Israeli kibbutz of Alumim, located near the northern border of the Gaza Strip. The goal of Hamas was to kill and kidnap Israeli civilians. In Alumim alone, the infiltrators killed 16 foreign workers from Thailand and Nepal, and kidnapped 8 people, before the kibbutz's security team fought back and was able to stop them. Two brothers who came from the Israeli city Beersheba to fight the infiltrators were also killed in the clashes. All of the Hamas infiltrators were killed.

Background

On the morning of 7 October 2023, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched a surprise attack on Israel. The attack was carried out under the cover of a barrage of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli cities and towns. Hundreds of Hamas militants infiltrated Israeli settlements and military bases, engaging in gun battles with under-equipped Israeli security forces, which were mostly made up of civilian volunteers. Hamas killed 1,080 Israeli civilians, 55 police officers, and 301 soldiers. In addition, it kidnapped at least 239 people, including women, the elderly, and infants.

Timeline

At around 6:30 AM, red alert sirens and the sounds of explosions from Iron Dome interceptors deployed in the area were heard.

Rafi Bevian, the security officer of Sdot Negev Regional Council, a resident of Alumim, felt that the number of launches was higher than usual. He then left for the council headquarters to activate the emergency center. As he approached the Regev junction, he was warned that there were infiltrators at the junction, and shortly after he received an alert that those were approaching the entrance to Alumim kibbutz. By 6:45 AM, the entire kibbutz security team, consisting of 12 civilians, had been activated, and at 7:00 AM, the infiltrators arrived at the kibbutz entrance. Unable to open it, as it was closed due to Shabbat observance, the Hamas infiltrators rode on motorcycles around the kibbutz and broke through a rear gate. They then reached the kibbutz entrance from the inside and opened the gate, but after an exchange of fire, one of them was wounded and his friends evacuated him to Gaza Strip.

Hamas then penetrated the area of the foreign workers' housing, in the southern part of the kibbutz. The security team fired at them from a distance. The infiltrators entered the housing of foreign workers from Nepal and Thailand, murdered 19 of them, and kidnapped 5 to Gaza Strip. They then continued to the kibbutz dairy, where they burned down the silo, punctured the milk tanks with bullets, and caused extensive damage.

At 9:00 AM, approximately 30 infiltrators took refuge in a public park in the kibbutz. The security team engaged in an exchange of fire with them and managed to kill two, including the commander of the force.

The exchange of fire continued until 12:00 PM, when Israeli forces from the Metzada and Yahalom units arrived and assisted in the elimination of Hamas troopers, while at 12:30 PM, dozens of them managed to arrive the area of the kibbutz packing house. Another Israeli force, of the Shaldag Unit, engaged in the fighting with them for several hours. During the fighting, the Israeli forces killed a large number of the infiltrators, and then directed an attack helicopter which eliminated the rest.

On 9 October, the members of the kibbutz were evacuated to the Israeli city Netanya. During the fighting, brothers Yishai and Na'im Slotzky from Beersheba were killed. The brothers had come to the Gaza envelope on their own initiative to take part in the fighting against Hamas.

A document that was seized after the attack revealed that a Hamas unit which was sent to capture Alumim had received clear instructions to massacre civilians and take hostages. A militant who participated in the Alumim battle and was arrested by security forces said that the order given by Hamas leaders was to carry out acts that included beheading and rape.

External links

• Daisy Dumas and Caroline Davies, British-Israeli survivor tells of horrific scenes after kibbutz attack, The Guardian, 10 October 2023
• Andrea Samuels, Israel at war: 26 hours in a bomb shelter as death rained all around, The Jerusalem Post, 21 October 2023
• Gavrielov, Nadav (2023-10-09). "For 26 Hours, One Family Took Shelter as Hamas Attackers Overran Their Kibbutz". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-01
• Foreigners from across the globe killed, missing or abducted in Hamas massacre