Battalion 450 Recounts Harrowing Combat on October 7th

On the morning of October 7th, Battalion 450 of Bislamach, comprised of paratrooper and Kfir officer cadet trainees, was on alert near Yerucham when alerts began arriving shortly after 6:30 AM. Soldiers received videos of terrorists inside Israel from Sderot, Ofakim, and the Gaza border area. The battalion commander, identified as R., immediately ordered his troops to head south, understanding the gravity of the situation despite not yet knowing its full scope.

Upon reaching the Tze'elim area, the reality became clearer as private vehicles filled with survivors and wounded individuals arrived. While the soldiers were unaware of the Nova music festival massacre at this point, they witnessed panicked, bleeding civilians fleeing the combat zones. The battalion's medic began treating the wounded on-site as the force pushed towards the Gaza border communities.

Sergeant Sh., then a cadet in the NCO course, recalled seeing a senior officer killed on the road, which solidified his understanding of the serious nature of the event. Meanwhile, Major A., who commanded a paratrooper company in the battalion, rushed from home to join his troops. As he approached the Gaza envelope, the scenes grew more dire: abandoned vehicles, wounded people, and terrorists deep within Israeli territory. He described the sights as "a scene from an end-of-the-world movie."

The force advanced towards Re'im, disembarking a few hundred meters before the junction. A police officer warned them of terrorists at the intersection, to which the commander responded, "Okay brother, that's what I'm here for." The soldiers deployed and advanced, coming under heavy fire and grenade attacks near a bridge. During searches in the Besor stream area, they spotted a white vehicle moving west. Passengers fled, and upon reaching the car, cries of "Help, help" were heard from the trunk. The soldiers opened it to find a young woman who had been abducted, a discovery that made the commander realize the terrorists were also taking hostages to Gaza.

At the Gama junction, three young women were found in a protected room. Their partners had been killed outside while trying to defend them. The soldiers also observed numerous ringing mobile phones scattered around the dead, a stark reminder of the families anxiously waiting for news. The force split, with one platoon heading to Nirim and another to Kissufim.

In Nirim, soldiers cleared a house where two terrorists had hidden in a safe room closet after entering through a window. In Kissufim, the battle intensified. As Battalion 450 advanced through the northern part of the kibbutz, they encountered heavy fire from multiple directions, including the nearby outpost and houses. Several soldiers and commanders were wounded, including the battalion commander, R., who was hit in the back while trying to drag a wounded officer to safety. The company commander, A., was shot in the leg. The chain of command shifted rapidly during the intense fighting, with cadets stepping up to fill leadership roles.

Sergeant Sh. took command of the company after multiple leaders were incapacitated. The remaining fit soldiers managed the fighting, treated the wounded, and relayed reports, while also rotating positions to deceive the enemy about their numbers. The company commander, A., who was severely wounded and lost consciousness, would later spend ten days recovering in the hospital.

The battle in Kissufim continued until nightfall. A rescued armored vehicle created a smoke screen, allowing the soldiers to extract the remaining wounded and fallen. During the day's fighting in the Gaza envelope, over twenty terrorists were neutralized, seven soldiers from Battalion 450 were killed, and ten were wounded. The battalion commander returned to his unit about a week and a half after being wounded and named his newborn son Dor, after the fighters who risked their lives that day. He stated that the events of October 7th provided a different answer to questions about the motivation of Generation Z, describing the combat as "something completely different."