There were six of us against a hundred terrorists, a member of the militia in the kibbutz described to Novinka

(from our special correspondent)

Bunim and its community are used to the sounds of rocket explosions, but on Saturday, October 7, it was something else. “There were more explosions and they were much louder. In addition, the whole thing took a very, very long time,” Bunim describes in an interview with the Novinek reporter.

The man did not wait for anything and immediately went to the shelter, where his children and wife were also hiding. “That’s when I realized I had to find my gun,” Bunim says, adding that he keeps it safely hidden in a safe for the sake of the children.

Kibbutz Re’im has around four hundred residents, there were a total of six people designated as a rapid response team, and Bunim was one of them. The Supernova festival was just taking place nearby, where one of the biggest massacres took place.

“Our group is here in case one or two terrorists from Gaza get here. Our task is to delay them until the army arrives, that is, for ten to twenty minutes. We can find our way around the kibbutz, so we can also tell them where the terrorists are in the kibbutz. But this time we quickly realized that no one would come to help us. All the soldiers were under attack and could not come. In addition, we also heard explosions from the surrounding settlements, so even they could not come to our aid,” explains Bunim.

The six-member team decided to split into pairs. They hid in the houses on the edge of the kibbutz and shot at the terrorists until around 10:30. According to Bunim, they tried to create the impression that they were actually a large force.

Afterwards, the team noticed that the terrorists were setting fire to trees, bushes and houses in the kibbutz where civilians were hiding. According to the information that Bunim shared with the Davar server, most people managed to take shelter in time in houses that were not on fire.

By evening, reinforcements arrived at the kibbutz and the role of Bunim and his cohorts changed. Because they knew the place best of all, they acted as coordinators. Together with the soldiers, they went from house to house looking for terrorists. As in other kibbutzim, many families were still in shelters and people were desperately holding doorknobs. The covers are designed against missiles, not against infantry attack and cannot be locked.

It took a long time to clear the entire area from terrorists, many terrorists were still running around. Bunim told the Davar server that he returned to his house around midnight on Saturday when he ran out of ammunition. He was called by his friend Niv Tovia, also a member of the rapid reaction force, at exactly half past two in the morning, because terrorists had broken into his house. The family managed to be saved and both terrorists were neutralized by paratroopers who threw a grenade into the house. The entire community was taken from Kibbutz Re’im and all houses were evacuated.

Bunim believes that they will soon return and rebuild the kibbutz together.