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Sky News’ forensics unit have investigated what happened to Kibbutz Be'eri.
2023-11-15 (#123)
The Story of Kibbutz Be'eri. Sky News 💔
Behind the unbelievable numbers, there are people, whose stories ended way too soon.
There are also survivors, who wish to realize one thing;
How to move forward?
Sky News’ data and forensics unit have investigated what happened to Kibbutz Be'eri and has identified more than 80 civilians who died there.
It was targeted by Hamas in a widespread attack on 7 October that left 1,200 Israelis dead.
Video Transcription:
Beeri was actually paradise for us.
We lost our homes.
Our community was butchered.
Beeri, a kibutz in southern Israel, was one
of the first places targeted by Hamas in
a surprise attack on October 7.
Militants broke in, burned town homes,
captured hostages, and killed 131 people.
Sky News has verified the identities of 118 of them.
We are completely heartbroken, completely.
It's just one of the
many communities targeted that day.
More than 10,000 Palestinians have
died in the ensuing war.
But it started with the attacks on October 7 that
led 1200 Israelis dead and hundreds more still held hostage.
We don't know whether they're dead or alive.
We investigated how the atrocities in Berry unfolded and
spoke to residents and victims family members to help
tell the story of murder, kidnap, and survival.
Berry is about 5 km from the border with Gaza
in southern Israel on October 7, at around 07:00 a.m.
CCTV camera footage shows two Hamas fighters
approaching the front gate of the kibbutz.
They can't get past the metal bars at first, but then,
as a resident drives up to enter, they ambush the car,
killing those inside, and they run into the village.
Around the same time, Amit Man, a 22 year old paramedic,
was running from the safe room in her home to the
local dental clinic, which was used as a first aid post.
During the attack.
We realized she was running to the clinic even though
she was told to stay inside of the safe room.
Despite being at the clinic, she was
in touch with her sisters on their
family WhatsApp group throughout the day.
She sent them a message once she arrived,
as she began treating the wounded, telling them
her Hamas had arrived in town.
Basically, she stayed there from 07:00 a.m.
Until 02:15 p.m.
Amit sent her sisters an audio message
as her masked gunmen entered the clinic.
This footage shows the aftermath of the fighting.
Haviva and Lior wanted Sky News to play
the recording that they shared, but a warning,
it's distressing to listen to:
"Please, make it stop they are here"
her sisters managed to call her back before the line dropped.
That was the moment that I lost hope.
That was the last time that anyone spoke with her.
As Hamas fighters moved through the kibbutz,
militants entered the home of the GATT
family at around 09:30 a.m..
A video posted on social media, verified by Sky
News, shows 68 year old Kineret Gatt in a
brown shirt being led away by gunmen.
Kenneth GaTt's nephew was in Tel Aviv at the time.
When he saw the video circulating
online, he couldn't believe his eyes.
I just sent it to my mother
and said, this is Kineret, right?
And she said, yeah, of course.
And we couldn't believe that what we were seeing
was her, but there was no question about it.
Another clip, taken shortly after shows her body lying with
three others on the ground by the cemetery gate.
She was later confirmed dead.
Eshel, her husband hid and survived.
Other members of the Gatt family are
believed to have been taken hostage.
Carmel Gatt and Yarden Romen Gatt.
Meanwhile, only a few streets away, Sophie Mackie was in
the safe room of her house with her young children.
CCTV footage shows that the Israeli military were
on the scene from approximately 10:00 a.m.
But locked in their safe room.
Sophie and her kids were unaware for several hours.
I just sat there with terrified children, and
I actually understood the time going to die.
At 06:15 p.m.
Israeli military personnel knocked on
the door of Sophie's home.
They weren't able to rescue us at that
time because we were still under fire.
The kibutz was still full of terrorists.
And so we went together with our neighbors
up to their safe room, and we sat
there for hours in complete darkness.
It wasn't until midnight that Sophie
and her family were finally rescued.
After hiding in silence for nearly 20 hours, I
went into the safe room at 06:30 in the
morning, knowing what my world looks like.
And I emerged from it almost 20 hours later.
And my home was destroyed.
There were dead bodies lying everywhere.
I couldn't recognize anything.
The attack left Berry changed forever.
Sophie and her kids survived, but Kineret and Amit
were among 131 people who died in Berry.
Sky News has verified the identities of
118 of them, including Israeli security personnel.
88 were civilians.
Nine were children under the age of 18.
The youngest was a nine month old called Mila Cohen.
24 people were age 70 or older.
The eldest, an 88 year
old woman called Hannah Kritzman.
We've also verified 30 civilians who are
considered missing or being held as hostages.
That's 118 civilians who are in Berry that lost their
lives or are believed to be missing or taken as
hostages and have been identified by Sky News.
Sky News approached the Israeli government and
the Israeli military with our findings.
Both departments declined to comment.
A Hamas representative did not reply to our messages.
The military finally claimed back
control on October the 9th.
Just over one month later, survivors
are contemplating how to move forward.
Of course we want to go back and
rebuild the situation between Israel and Gaza.
We can't go back to the way things were.
That's not even an option.
But time goes by and we
are slowly healing from the trauma.
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