F. Attack on Zikim beach

98. The attack on Zikim beach was the only attack carried out on 7 October by sea. Security camera video footage from the beach, verified by the Commission, shows that the attack began at 06:45, when one Hamas boat made landfall. Five armed militants are seen emerging from the boat running quickly towards the beach while shooting. According to several reports as well as video footage viewed by the Commission, the Israeli Navy managed to destroy two more approaching boats at sea. Sometime later a second boat made landfall and armed militants engaged in a firefight with the Israeli Navy from the beach. At 06:34, the Israeli Navy alerted the rapid response unit of kibbutz Zikim that there was an active infiltration situation. According to the rapid response team, nine armed militants reached the fence of kibbutz Zikim, of whom four were killed by the team and five escaped back to the beach. In a video published by Hamas after the attack, Hamas armed wing acknowledged responsibility for the attack on Zikim beach and provided more detail on acts committed during the attack. In the video one Hamas naval commando unit is seen mounting a rubber boat. The next scene in the video depicts a chase at sea and the arrival at Zikim beach. The video included scenes shot inside the toilet block at the beach, with Hamas armed wing claiming responsibility for killing those inside.

99. According to Israeli sources, a total of 18 civilians, imcluding five children, were killed on the beach that day.¹ An investigation by media outlet Hamakom and other media reported that 19 persons were killed.² The Commission found that most victims were killed either in a public shelter on the beach or in the public toilet block.

100. According to survivor statements, the shelter was attacked with grenades sometime between 06:45 and 06:56. In one testimony, a fisherman from Ashdod reported in a media interview that, when he heard the sirens, he ran towards the public shelter, located some 50 meters from the public toilet block. He stated that at first three or four other fishermen were with him in the shelter, while others joined later. He hid under an electricity cabinet at the end of the shelter. He reported hearing something thrown into the shelter and feeling the explosion of a fragmentation grenade. He then saw two militants dressed in uniform and wearing flak jackets, carrying Kalashnikovs.

101. Father and son Aryeh and Eliyahu Uzan were killed in the shelter on the beach. Eliyahu’s wife reported to the media that he had called her and said that he was hiding in the shelter and that she lost contact with him soon after that.

102. The Commission listened to recordings of phone calls and viewed screenshots of text messages, corroborating the grenade attack on the shelter and providing more detail on what happened after the attack. According to original phone call recordings played in a news segment, at 06:56 one survivor of the grenade attack called the 102 firefighters’ helpline asking for help but the call centre operator did not understand what he was saying. The survivor repeated the request and the call centre operator told him to call the police, stating “Terrorists is for the police”. Aryeh Uzan can be heard in background of the call to 102, saying, “Eli is dead, Eli is dead”, referring to his son Eliyahu. At 07:02 the same survivor called the 100 police call centre but there was no answer. At some point, one of those hiding in the shelter managed to reach the police helpline and in the recording sounded frantic, saying “come quick, they are killing us in the shelter”. He managed to tell the call centre that he was in Zikim beach. The call ended with gunshots shortly after.

103. Available information suggests that at least three persons who were alive in the shelter at the time of the calls to the helplines, including Aryeh Uzan, may have been killed by the gunshots heard at the end of the call. At least four persons reportedly survived the shelter attack. One of the survivors said that she survived by pretending to be dead and that the survivors extracted themselves from the shelter after hiding for several hours, without Israeli security forces’ rescue or assistance.

104. Five teenagers (four boys and one girl) and one fisherman hid in the public toilet block in Zikim beach and were killed by Hamas militants sometime after 06:48. The five teenagers were 17-year-old Shahaf Kariaf, 17-year-old Alina Weisbourg, 17-year-old Nadav Tayeb, 16-year-old Or Tasa and 17-year-old Tal Keren. The fisherman was Avi Hasdi. At approximately 06:48, Shahaf sent a video depicting the situation of those hiding in the toilet block. The Commission verified the video and notes that constant gunfire from outside the toilet block is clearly heard. At one point in the video an armed Israeli Security Forces soldier is seen at the door, replacing his rifle cartridge. One teenager is heard asking, “It’s a Hamas boat?” and the soldier responds, “Yes, it’s a Hamas boat that landed on the beach, there are snipers, I don’t know how many. There is a lot of military.” All six were killed by Hamas militants in the toilet block. In another video viewed by the Commission, filmed by Israeli first responders, soldiers are seen arriving at the scene. The body of one armed militant is visible, lying on the sand outside the toilet block, and five bodies are seen inside. One soldier is heard saying, “it is a tough scene, but we have to clear them quickly. Guys, we have no gloves, we need to work with what we have.” This conversation suggests that the Israeli Security Forces soldiers arriving at the scene were not trained for examining or clearing a crime scene.

105. Information was slow to reach the families of those killed at Zikim beach. This appears to be linked to the number of bodies arriving in Shura camp for identification but also to the fact that the beach remained an active combat zone for a period of time after the attack³, accounting perhaps for the late detection of the bodies in the shelter. The Commission documented several statements indicating that first responders only arrived at the beach some time after the attack. The Commission confirmed these details with the testimony of a first responder who stated that his unit was sent to Zikim beach to comb the sand and look for human remains around two weeks after the attack. He stated that the unit had to be protected by Israeli Security Forces in its work as the area was still considered unsafe.

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Sources

Footnotes

1. https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/news/swords-of-iron-civilian-casualties#ZIKIM. ↩

2. https://www.ha-makom.co.il/post-revital-zikim-full. ↩

3. See para 26 in this report. ↩