Netiv HaAsara Reaches Settlement with Former Security Chief Over October 7 Conduct

Former Netiv HaAsara security coordinator Ziv Volk and the southern moshav have ended a bitter legal fight with a settlement reached through mediation, about a year and a half after Volk sued. Under the agreement, Volk will receive 160,000 shekels gross in enhanced severance pay, far below the 1.4 million shekels he originally demanded, and he will withdraw his claim.

The dispute centered on Volk’s actions during the October 7 Hamas attack. According to an IDF inquiry, he ordered 25 armed members of the community response team to stay in their homes and not go out to fight the infiltrators, and he did the same himself. The military called the incident one of the most frustrating of the day, in part because the response team and security forces in the area had a clear numerical advantage over the attackers, two of whom later escaped back to Gaza.

Three militants entered the moshav that morning and killed 17 people. The attack began at 6:37 a.m., when three parachuting attackers landed in Netiv HaAsara. The IDF report also listed Volk’s decision as one of the failures that allowed the gunmen to operate in the village for a relatively long time, alongside operational failures by the army.

In his lawsuit filed in December 2024, Volk said he suffered “mental and emotional torment” because of insults and harsh accusations, and claimed longtime residents turned on him and “stuck a knife in [his] back.” He also said the local committee humiliated him and spread rumors that he had acted cowardly. The moshav rejected the claims, called the suit “scandalous,” and argued that Volk was never fired and that he had himself been negligent on October 7. The settlement says neither side admits wrongdoing, and Netiv HaAsara said it was glad the matter had been closed.