Two minutes and eight seconds. That's the time Hamas terrorists estimated it would take them to reach their target – the Nahal Oz kibbutz – from their starting point in Sajaiya. Revealed here for the first time, this chilling detail, along with other instructions and methods of operation, appears in "Operation 402" – Hamas' attack order for the conquest of the kibbutz on October 7 that left 15 residents dead and eight kidnapped. Alongside stories of heroism, questions also arise regarding the military's performance that day concerning the tragic death of kibbutz resident Ran Poslushni.
Operation 402
Drawn on impressive aerial photographs in Operation 402, a green arrow shows the short, simple route along which dozens of heavily armed Hamas terrorists rode motorcycles as they raided the kibbutz on the morning of October 7. It starts at the outermost building in Sajaiya and stretches directly eastward from there. Upon reaching the border with Israel, the arrow turns right, and after a distance of only about 164 feet, it immediately turns left, back towards the east. After easily jumping over the border fence, the arrow again rushes in a straight line through the potato fields and watermelon patches of Nahal Oz, ending at the southeastern corner of the kibbutz.
Other operation orders prepared by Hamas for the capture of communities in southern Israel have been revealed in the past, but Operation 402 is undoubtedly the most detailed published to date. Written in military language with over ten pages total of data and instructions, members of Hamas' military wing laid out step by step their plan for the massacre.
"The mobilized and reduced platoon from the third company in the fourth battalion will attack Nahal Oz kibbutz," it states. "It will cause as many casualties as possible, take hostages, and position itself inside the kibbutz – until further instructions are received."
Section 3 of the plan includes a table detailing the time in which members of the third company are supposed to complete the route from Sajaiya to the kibbutz. "Distance of the advance route between the exit point and the target – 3,050 meters," the table states. "Average speed of the group's advance towards the target – 40 mph. Travel time to reach the target from when the order is received – 2:08 minutes."
Two minutes and eight seconds. That's all Hamas terrorists needed to get from their starting point inside Gaza to the entrance of the isolated Israeli community. Two minutes and eight seconds, during which no one stood in their way. With this as the starting point, it's no wonder the battle for Nahal Oz was lost from the start. Almost.
Nahal Oz victims
There's no need for Hamas' aerial photographs or their calculations to understand how close Nahal Oz is to the border with Gaza. Since its establishment in 1951, the kibbutz has suffered from its proximity to the Gaza Strip, from Fedayeen attacks, through more than 20 years of Qassam rockets and mortars, to the "March of Return" protests held throughout 2018 that enveloped the kibbutz in thick smoke every Friday. But even the veteran residents of Nahal Oz couldn't have imagined October 7, when 15 kibbutz members were murdered: Staff Sergeant Ilan Fiorentino, Staff Sergeant (res.) Ran Poslushni, Shlomo Ron, Shoshi Brosh, Haim Livne, Yasmin, Yaniv, Keshet and Tchelet Zohar, Dikla Arava, Tomer Arava-Eliaz, Noam Elyakim, Maayan Idan, Somkuan Pansa-ard, and Joshua Mollel.
Eight people were kidnapped from the kibbutz on that black Saturday – Tsachi Idan and Omri Miran, who are still in captivity; Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, American citizens who were released after 14 days; sisters Dafna and Ela Elyakim and Alma Avraham, who were released after 51 days; and Clemence Felix Matanga, a Tanzanian citizen who was murdered and whose body is being held in Gaza.
Since October 7, Nahal Oz has been a closed military area. Although it is almost empty of residents, the kibbutz is still well-maintained: a group of volunteers passes between the houses and tends to the shrubs so they don't grow wild. The green lawns are also waiting for the community to return home. On a visit to the kibbutz this week, it's easy to imagine the pastoral scene of that Simchat Torah morning. It's also easy to imagine the dust cloud raised by the motorcycles on which Hamas terrorists rode on their short journey from nearby Sajaiya.
The IDF investigation into the battle in Nahal Oz has not yet been completed, and its publication is not expected soon. However, the remarkable bravery displayed by the kibbutz's emergency response team is already evident. Despite losing their security coordinator, Ilan Fiorentino, in the opening minutes of the assault, this small group, along with a few border police officers who were coincidentally spending the weekend in Nahal Oz, mounted a fierce resistance against dozens of heavily armed terrorists. In the face of overwhelming odds, their courageous actions undoubtedly prevented an even greater tragedy from unfolding in the kibbutz. Only after six and a half hours would the first IDF forces arrive at the kibbutz gate to finally clear it of terrorists.
Members of the emergency response team described their experiences in "Testimony 710," an extensive civilian documentation project that recently went online. Now, in a first-of-its-kind reconstruction based on these testimonies, along with internal materials and Hamas' operation order, it's possible to get a full picture of the battle. From this picture emerges, just as in the IDF's investigation of the battle in Be'eri, questions regarding the army's performance in Nahal Oz. As in Be'eri, in the case of Nahal Oz, it turns out that during the clearing of the kibbutz from terrorists, IDF soldiers accidentally killed at least one Israeli civilian.
Top secret
The fourth battalion of Hamas' Gaza Brigade is the Sajaiya battalion, which has caused trouble for the IDF since Operation Cast Lead in 2009. In Operation Protective Edge, the battalion also inflicted heavy casualties on Israel. In the current war, the army has had to maneuver in its sector three times and still hasn't defeated it decisively. The third company of the battalion belongs to the Nukhba force (Arabic for "elite"), Hamas' special forces unit. Operation 402, which bears the heading "Top Secret," is intended for this elite company.
The entire order was printed, but someone had attached a note with the handwritten name "Abu Salama." This is the codename of the force commander, who received the document only hours before setting out. According to the battle order, the raiding force on Nahal Oz included 27 terrorists. The force should advance towards the target on 14 off-road motorcycles, moving in two columns. An additional motorcycle, on which the commander and driver will ride, will be positioned in the middle of the convoy. The order even specified the name of the commander's driver – Bilal Abu Kanuna.
The navigators who led the force were also mentioned by name, although their movement route was not particularly complicated. Another professional, Mohammed Hamto, was defined as a "media photographer." Later, under the "Communications" section, it states that "photos will be taken using head cameras and phones, in addition to the presence of a media photographer." This instruction clarifies how important it was for Hamas to broadcast the atrocities it committed live.
The order also included three aerial photographs of the area, which, in addition to the route of movement, indicate the locations of IDF communication antennas, cameras, and motion radars, along with guard posts, barbed wire fences, and dirt mounds. The entry point to the kibbutz is located in its southeastern corner, that is, in the part furthest from the Gaza Strip, a location that Hamas operatives probably assessed would be a weak point.
After completing the first stage – the rapid arrival at the destination – the terrorists would move to the second stage – conquering the kibbutz. According to the order, the force's sappers would breach holes in the fence using explosive charges, through which their comrades would enter for the mission and split into two groups. One group would focus on raiding the eastern part of Nahal Oz, while setting ambushes and booby-trapping houses. This group's mission was to take over the clubhouse and dining hall and also raid the secretariat, which, according to Hamas, "is considered an important source of information for our forces" from which communication with factors outside the kibbutz is conducted.
The second group of terrorists would focus on the western side of Nahal Oz, take over its visitors' center, "clear" the kindergartens, and blow up the kibbutz's communication antennas. Then, they would gather hostages from the first group and concentrate them in the kindergartens. The dining hall is also described in the order as a "central place" where "hostages can be held." Section 5 of the plan states that if, during the fortification with the hostages, there is a need for water and food supplies, they can be obtained from the grocery store, which can serve as a "source of logistical support for the forces – food, drink, fuel, gas."
Simultaneously with the conquest of Nahal Oz kibbutz, another Hamas force also raided the adjacent Nahal Oz outpost and completely conquered it, inflicting heavy casualties on the IDF. The lookout post's command and control center were breached, and most of the female observers were shot dead. Seven female IDF observers were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. The people of Nahal Oz quickly realized that help would not come from the direction of the nearby outpost. "At some point, I called a friend and told him, 'You must save us and bring the army. There are dozens of terrorists in the kibbutz, and we're alone.' I really cried for help," said Barry Meyerowitz, co-manager of the Nahal Oz community and a member of the emergency response team who fought the terrorists on October 7. "The friend said, 'I'm checking what can be done,' then I realized there's no one to help us."
Even if they didn't meet the ambitious target of two minutes and eight seconds, the terrorists of the Sajaiya battalion certainly managed to infiltrate Nahal Oz quickly. Already at 7:00 AM, half an hour after the start of the attack, reports began to be received of terrorist fire inside the kibbutz. In the hours that followed, dozens more armed men would enter the community, along with looters who would take anything they could get their hands on. According to army estimates, on October 7, about 100 terrorists were present in Nahal Oz.
However, in the second part of their mission – conquering the kibbutz and fortifying themselves there with many hostages – Hamas terrorists failed. Although this is the Israeli community closest to the border with Gaza (except for Kerem Shalom), and although the terrorists stayed there for long hours with a huge numerical advantage – Nahal Oz did not fall. The terrorists managed to murder many of the kibbutz residents in cold blood and kidnap eight – but at no stage did they completely control it. What prevented this from happening was the kibbutz's emergency response team.
The emergency response team
At 7:04 AM, Ari Yefet, an emergency response team member, went out to his garden and looked towards the kibbutz's perimeter fence. He saw five motorcycles there, with two armed men on each. Yefet caught sight of the armed men crossing the kibbutz's back gate, and at 7:08 AM, he called Nissan de Kalo, deputy to the security coordinator Fiorentino. "Something urgent?" asked de Kalo. "Yes," Yefet replied, "there's a terrorist infiltration from the back gate."
De Kalo, who had just put on his vest and ceramic armor and taken his M-16 rifle out of the safe in his house, called the security coordinator Fiorentino. "Bring the Defender (the community's armored security vehicle) to me," he said, and immediately afterward, he put his children in the safe room, explained to them how to lock the door from the inside, and warned them not to open it for anyone.
Fiorentino and de Kalo, it's important to note, are the only members of the emergency response team who had long guns. The rest of the weapons were stored in the kibbutz's armory four months earlier for fear of being stolen. "Bring us weapons," Yefet writes to them already in the first minutes, locked in the safe room with his family. However, these weapons will never reach the 20 members of the emergency response team who were left in the kibbutz without a real ability to defend it.
Upon receiving the report of the terrorist infiltration, the security coordinator Fiorentino left the house, under fire, and joined 13-year-old Ariel Zohar, who had left his house for a run and whose entire family – parents Yaniv and Yasmin and older sisters Keshet and Tchelet – were murdered in the massacre. Fiorentino brought Ariel to his house. There, his wife Sharon watched over him, thus essentially saving his life. He then went out again and encountered terrorists and engaged in combat with them. "I'm in battle," he replied briefly to Sharon when she called him on the phone. Fiorentino, who pinned down the terrorists with fire, still managed to update the commander of a small group of Border Police fighters, who were spending the weekend in the kibbutz, about the location of the encounter. He managed to delay the terrorists' advance, but shortly afterward was hit and killed. The police, who encountered the terrorists later, managed to eliminate five of them.
The one who took command at this stage was de Kalo, who was now driving the armored Defender vehicle. When he called the security coordinator Fiorentino, "there was a dial tone, and Ilan didn't answer," he said in his testimony. "At that point in time, I had a very clear understanding – Ilan was probably not alive. The second thing is that I'm alone, and the third is that I'm probably about to encounter now."
De Kalo drove to the kibbutz entrance gate and waited for IDF forces there. He received a phone call from emergency response team member Meyerowitz. "I heard distress in his voice and asked where he was and what was happening," Meyerowitz testified. "He said he was at the kibbutz entrance, waiting for the army inside the armored vehicle, and asked if I could join him. I was at home with a bulletproof vest, magazines, helmet, flashlight, maps, and everything I needed – but without a weapon. Nissan said he had a (long) gun and a pistol and that he was coming to pick me up. And then the most horrific morning of my life began."
After de Kalo picked up Meyerowitz from his house, the two returned to the entrance gate of Nahal Oz, where they saw an armed person dressed in uniform climbing on it. "I was seconds away from shooting him," de Kalo recounted, "and then he raised his hands. I identified him as an officer. He told me, 'I have a force here with wounded soldiers and a dead man.'" Only at this stage do the emergency response team members realize that Border Police officers are also fighting terrorists simultaneously. They decide to join the officer and unite with the Border Police fighters.
When they reach the house where the Border Police are fortified, "They bring out four wounded for me," de Kalo said, "I lift one of them to the back seat of the Defender. I wake him up and seat him. Another soldier pulls him. My entire right hand and my clothes are soaked in blood." De Kalo and the Border Police manage to get the wounded soldiers out through one of Nahal Oz's back gates, while fighting terrorists shooting at them from all directions. "I remember faces I hit, and it's very difficult," de Kalo testified. "Even when you know they're terrorists, it's not human to kill. But it's a no-choice situation." During the battle, Staff Sergeant Yaakov Shlomo Krasinski was killed, and five Border Police fighters were wounded.
While the wounded were being loaded onto a kibbutz vehicle and evacuated to Soroka Hospital, the fighting continued inside Nahal Oz. Emergency response team members de Kalo and Meyerowitz, together with Border Police fighters, took control of two armored "Ze'ev" vehicles of the Border Police force under fire and started driving them around the kibbutz. De Kalo leads the force, and Meyerowitz sits next to him in the armored Defender connected to the kibbutz's WhatsApp group, where messages are received from residents about the locations of terrorists and wounded.
Being a history buff, at this stage de Kalo remembered the story of "Zvika Force," that small armor force that repelled an attempted invasion of Syrian armor divisions into the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War. "My goal is to reach the armed men (who are inside the kibbutz)," de Kalo described the rationale behind his heroism that day. "It's important for me to make contact, to create combat. Always be on the move, always surprise them, and not give them peace. Every time, pop up from a different place."
And so de Kalo's Defender and two "Ze'ev" vehicles hopped between different arenas and fought the terrorists as much as possible. Although they were few against many, the "de Kalo Force" does not allow Hamas terrorists to implement the orders they received in Operation 402. "Everywhere we drove, they shot at us," he said. "Part of the time we dismounted from the vehicle, part of the time we shot from inside the vehicle." The Border Police fighters, some of whom were equipped with sniper rifles, also fired from inside the vehicles. "I couldn't believe their level of accuracy," de Kalo said. "From narrow firing slits, they sniped. We told them, 'Two terrorists on the left, white shirt, black shirt.' They took them down."
When de Kalo and Meyerowitz's Defender vehicle took close-range fire and was disabled, they left it and moved to the Border Police "Ze'ev." The Ze'ev also took an RPG rocket hit but continued to function. The emergency response team members and Border Police managed to prevent them from completely conquering Nahal Oz. Throughout all this, they and all the other kibbutz members waited for the IDF.
The IDF arrives
It took the IDF a long time to send forces to Nahal Oz. Only at 11:00 AM did the Maglan unit receive the first order, which placed responsibility for the kibbutz in its hands. As a result, several teams from the unit, who were moving around the area and had already fought in various places, began to make their way to Nahal Oz, but this was not simple and was full of ambushes set by the terrorists in advance.
The first military force to arrive near Nahal Oz was a Maglan force led by Major Chen Bouchris, the unit's deputy commander, and Captain Yiftah Yavetz. The force, which arrived around noon, included only five fighters. They drove on the main access road to the kibbutz and were ambushed just yards from the entrance gate by terrorists lying in wait by the roadside. General (res.) Noam Tibon, who was going to Nahal Oz to rescue his son Amir and his family, also joined the battle that developed. In the encounter, Bouchris, Yavetz, and Staff Sergeant Afik Rosenthal were killed.
The encounter delayed the arrival of Maglan forces to Nahal Oz. Unit teams that arrived at the scene spent about an hour neutralizing the threat and evacuating the wounded, while struggling to reach the kibbutz itself. According to the unit's reports, the first force to reach Nahal Oz finally did so at 1:15 PM.
Maglan was joined at this stage by fighters from the Givati Reconnaissance Unit, under the command of unit commander Lt. Col. Ziv Boanish, who was called up from home and arrived in the Sderot area in private vehicles. In a press interview given by Givati Reconnaissance officers, they claimed they arrived at Nahal Oz at 11:00 AM. This claim does not align with testimonies from emergency response team members and other documents in our possession.
According to emergency response team member Meyerowitz, the army arrived in Nahal Oz only after 1:30 PM. "At 1:30 PM, we received a message on the radio that forces were arriving. We stood and waited for them," he recounts. "We were already quite battered and also dehydrated, both us and the Border Police. We waited at the back gate, and then a convoy of army jeeps from the Maglan unit and Givati Reconnaissance started to enter. They spread out as defense. Nissan showed them the kibbutz on the map. For a moment, I breathed. I said, 'Wow, I can't believe the army arrived.' I wrote to my wife Roni that the army had arrived and that we were coming soon, and then I saw the briefing continued and continued. I started screaming like a madman at everyone. There was also Noam Tibon, who arrived with the soldiers. I didn't know who he was. I told him, 'Come on, we can't wait. They're killing the whole kibbutz.'"
With assistance from emergency response team members, Maglan and Givati forces divided Nahal Oz into sectors, with each team of fighters assigned an area to clear. The soldiers moved from house to house, attempting to determine which homes contained terrorists. At this stage, an unexpected challenge emerged: It became clear that Hamas terrorists had shouted, "IDF! IDF!", while breaking into kibbutz houses to slaughter residents. Now, when the IDF actually arrived, terrified residents refused to open their doors to the soldiers.
IDF forces, initially accompanied by emergency response team members and later on their own, continued to move from house to house until the evening hours of October 7, eliminating terrorists as they went. As darkness fell, they took up defensive positions. In the following two days, the army continued to eliminate terrorists in the kibbutz area and repel infiltration attempts by additional terrorists seeking to enter the kibbutz through the breached fence with Gaza, some on motorcycles. Maglan and Givati were later joined by a force from Golani's 13th Battalion, and starting from the afternoon of October 8, this combined force of about 100 fighters began to systematically go through all the kibbutz houses and finally clear them of terrorists. Only on the evening of October 9, two and a half days after the start of the attack, did Maglan and Givati reconnaissance fighters leave the kibbutz area and begin preparations for the ground entry into Gaza. They were replaced by a reserve force from the 55th Brigade. The battle in Nahal Oz had ended.
The mistake
There is no doubt about the bravery of IDF soldiers in the battle for Nahal Oz, and no doubt that from the moment they arrived, they worked to clear the kibbutz of terrorists under complex, almost impossible conditions. However, in at least one case, it appears that IDF soldiers erred. This involves the tragic case of Ran Poslushni.
Ran, 48 years old at the time of his death, grew up in Yavne and worked as a manager at the Ashdod port. He and his wife, Sharona, met while studying and moved to Nahal Oz nine years ago, where they raised their four children. "Ran was never worried about the security situation," said his father, Motti, who accompanied us inside the kibbutz. "He was happy here."
The Poslushni family's beautifully designed and warm home, standing in the southern part of Nahal Oz, was a dream come true for the couple. Motti, who conducted his own investigation into the circumstances of Ran's death, stood outside the house and recounted the events of October 7. "On Simchat Torah, the family hosted a couple of friends from central Israel, along with their children," he says. "When the 'Red Color' alerts began, everyone entered the safe room on the lower floor." Later, two Thai workers who had fled from the nearby dairy farm also joined the group.
Ran and Sharona's eldest son, Ili, lives in a complex on the other side of the kibbutz designated for soldiers. Ili, who still serves in combat engineering, had left his personal weapon, a shortened M-16, disassembled with one magazine, at his parents' house. That night, he went to sleep with his then-girlfriend in his room in the soldiers' complex. "Throughout that day, we were mainly worried about Ili," says Motti. "We weren't worried about Ran at all."
"At 7:06 AM, Ran sent me a message that there was a report of an infiltration into Nahal Oz," Motti continued. "Later, he wrote, 'Dad, I hear machine gun fire.' Then he reported that terrorists were trying to break through the entrance door." Ran, who had been a tank commander during his regular service, assembled his son's personal weapon, stood at the safe room door entrance, and began firing at the armed terrorists trying to enter his home. By the afternoon hours, he was left with only four bullets in the magazine and asked the emergency response team members to bring him magazines. They were unable to reach him.
Apart from Ran, his wife Sharona also remained with him outside the safe room. Sharona prepared food and drinks for the guests who were holed up in the safe room, while Ran turned the house into a fortress, not allowing anyone to enter. Throughout this time, the couple, known as ultimate hosts, managed to maintain a calm, even pleasant atmosphere in their besieged home.
Ran continued to defend the house, his family, and his guests until the afternoon hours. At 1:16 PM, he reported to his father about an attempt by looters from Gaza to break into the house. "They were unarmed. I stitched one of them in the ass. Haha," he wrote with his characteristic cynicism. At 1:43 PM, he already updated that, "The army is clearing the kibbutz." About an hour later, Maglan soldiers arrived at his house, talked with Ran, and gave him a full magazine. He even managed to photograph them standing on the balcony before bidding them farewell.
However, shortly after the Maglan soldiers left, another force, a team from the Givati reconnaissance unit, positioned itself in front of the Poslushni family home. The Givati force apparently did not understand that the house had already been searched and "cleared" by Maglan soldiers. While silently observing the house, the soldiers saw Ran, holding a weapon, going up the stairs to the second floor together with his wife Sharona. Since Ran was dressed in civilian clothes, they apparently interpreted this as an armed terrorist holding a hostage.
Why did Ran and Sharona go up to the second floor? According to Sharona, after the Maglan soldiers visited the house, they felt relatively calm and allowed themselves to go up to the bedroom on the second floor to rest. They had no idea they had walked into the sights of the Givati force's weapons.
While Ran and Sharona were on the second floor, the Givati force secretly flanked the house and positioned themselves in front of the three windows of the couple's bedroom. Sharona remembers even seeing one of the soldiers lying in front of the house through one of the windows, with his weapon drawn, and asked him not to shoot, as there were no terrorists in the house.
The soldier may not have heard Sharona, as at some point, the Givati force opened devastating fire towards the house. The soldiers, who fired at the second floor through the three bedroom windows, did so in a surprise burst of fire, apparently intended to eliminate the "terrorist" who was inside the house.
Ran, who was standing in front of the middle window at the time of the burst of fire, was hit by the shooting and fell. His wife, who was in the bathroom at that moment, was saved thanks to the concrete wall separating it from the windows. "Sharona, who came out of the bathroom and saw him wounded, screamed," says Motti. "That scream was heard throughout the kibbutz."
Only at this stage did the Givati soldiers realize that they had probably made a mistake in identification. The force commander contacted a Maglan team operating nearby and discovered for the first time that this team had already searched the Poslushni family home. At this point, some of the Givati soldiers entered the house and climbed to the second floor, where the horror was revealed to their eyes. One of them, apparently consumed by guilt, left a note with his phone number on Ran's body.
Now, the Poslushni family's home in Nahal Oz is empty of residents. The sole testimony to what happened there is the walls of the second floor, completely riddled with bullets, and the main entrance door to the house, which was hit by Ran's shooting. "Volunteers came and helped polish the house," said Motti in a steady voice, while standing in the corridor of the second floor, exactly where his son Ran fell. "But here," he points casually at the wall, "there are a few drops of blood they forgot to clean."
After his death, the family demanded that Ran be recognized as an IDF casualty, since he was attached to Nahal Oz's emergency response team, physically defended those in the house, and was ultimately hit by friendly fire. Shortly after his death, he was indeed recognized as such and given the rank of master sergeant in the reserves. "I have no complaints against Givati about shooting Ran," says Motti, the father. "I'm sure the soldiers were confused and scared, and because of this chaos, they fired without thinking twice and without understanding the situation. They released all their frustrations and fear through this shooting. This brigade is also fighting with all its might in Gaza."
Two fighters from the reconnaissance unit who fought in Nahal Oz were killed in Gaza: Staff Sergeant Roei Wolf and Staff Sergeant Lavi Lipshitz. "But I see it as an error that no one from the brigade has bothered to pick up the phone and apologize to us yet," continued the bereaved father Motti. "It's as if the subject has been forgotten and disappeared, and only stories of heroism remain. I think this is disrespectful behavior, especially after killing an Israeli citizen like that. Givati is rightfully proud of killing terrorists in Nahal Oz and other places. But the feeling is that there's an attempt to erase the incident with Ran."
The parents have also not yet received the pathological report of their son's body. "We still don't know what Ran died from," says Motti. "We know Ran was hit by two bullets. But where did they hit? We have no idea. Maybe it's hard to explain, but it's important for us to know exactly what he died from." When they contacted, with the help of the IDF Casualties Officer, to request the autopsy report from the Pathological Institute, they were told that due to the state of emergency, "It will take time... unfortunately, we have no estimate."
And what about Ili, Ran and Sharona's eldest son, the one who slept in the soldiers' complex? "There are six apartments in this complex," Motti recounts. "The terrorists entered five of them and sprayed, but they were all empty because the soldiers living there didn't leave for Shabbat. Ili and his girlfriend were in the sixth apartment. There, the terrorists contented themselves with firing a few bullets and left."
After sitting shiva for his father, Ili struggled to get permission to return to his unit and join them in Gaza. His request was eventually granted. "He gave his soul in Gaza," says the proud grandfather Motti. "It was an opportunity for him to avenge his father's death." Ili excelled during his service inside Gaza, and on the last Independence Day, he received the President's Excellence Award. Another hero in the chain of generations of Nahal Oz.
IDF Spokesperson's response: "The IDF shares in the sorrow of the Poslushni family and mourns the death of Ran, may his memory be blessed, in the complex circumstances during the battle. The commanders of the Givati Brigade are currently fighting in the Gaza Strip and will meet with the family as soon as possible. The investigation of the battle in Kibbutz Nahal Oz has not yet been completed. When it is concluded, it will first be presented to the kibbutz community and the bereaved families and then published transparently to the public."
