The IDF published its findings Monday on the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Kibbutz Holit. The probe, conducted by Col. Eylon Peretz, commander of the Yoav Regional Brigade, and approved by former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, found that the kibbutz was left undefended for hours before assistance finally arrived in mid-afternoon of that day.

The attack began at 6:29 a.m. with rockets fired toward the border. At 6:59, terrorists breached the fence of the kibbutz, and some 60 of them poured over the fence and began rampaging through the kibbutz.

As the terrorists went from house to house, murdering, abducting and injuring people and burning and wrecking their homes, armed civilians fought back, unaided by the IDF. That day, 13 people were murdered and six taken hostage. Two of the hostages were later killed in captivity.

The kibbutz’s security chief, Abi Korin, fell while fighting valiantly to protect the kibbutz, along with two of his deputies.

The report highlighted the terrible moments and acts of bravery during the worst massacre to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Some of the terrible moments included terrorists kidnapping four members of the Ziyadne family (father Youssef Hamis, sons Hamza and Bilal, and daughter Aisha) and killing another, as well as abducting two foreign workers hiding near a cowshed. Youssef and Hamza were killed in captivity.

The terrorists killed a couple in their home while their 7-year-old child hid in a closet until a neighbor rescued her. A teenager hid in his house for hours after his parents were killed.

The report praised the courage of those who fought back, calling their actions under fire “extraordinary” and singling out the security coordinator and his deputy, who “acted with bravery, engaged the enemy and defended the kibbutz with their bodies.”

Others acted with extraordinary courage as well. A man took down a terrorist who invaded his home, but later, explosives injured members of his family. A woman braved the flames of a burning home to save her neighbor. Adi Vital-Kaploun became a national hero when she asked her husband for instructions on how to use a rifle, which she turned on a terrorist who broke inside and killed him. Later, other terrorists murdered her in front of her 3-year-old and 5-month-old children and stayed with them for about an hour and a half.

Israeli troops who were deployed to the border engaged with Hamas terrorists and killed many. They reached the kibbutz’s entrance shortly after the terrorists broke in, but they moved on to fight elsewhere, responding to a report that their commander was wounded. The army did not arrive until around 2 p.m., when an all-female tank crew broke through the fence to help soldiers enter the kibbutz. As the fighting wore on, terrorists began to leave, taking hostages with them. They abandoned one woman, Avital Aladjem, with Vital-Kaploun’s two children, in the Gaza Strip, and she made it back to the kibbutz with them.

By late afternoon, the army was able to evacuate the kibbutz and search for any remaining terrorists. Fighting in other areas continued into the next day.

The report concluded that the army “failed to defend Kibbutz Holit” because the army was simply unprepared for such a well-planned and coordinated attack on such a grand scale. The probe found that heavy fighting on the border repelled a large number of terrorists, which meant that fewer terrorists attacked Holit than otherwise would have. However, while the IDF troops exhibited tremendous courage and bravery and fought fiercely, coordination between forces was poor and confusion reigned.