Eli Ginsberg (Hebrew : אלי גינסברג; c. 1981 – 8 October 2023) was an Israeli lieutenant colonel who commanded the LOTAR special forces counterterrorism unit of the Israeli Defense Forces from 2020 to 2023. Two weeks after his retirement from the military, Ginsberg was killed in action during the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel on 8 October. [1] [2] After hearing of the initial incursion by Hamas, Ginsberg drove from Dovrat, the kibbutz in northern Israel where he lived with his wife and four children, to participate in the Battle of Be'eri. [3]
During his IDF career, Ginsberg was an officer in the Israeli Navy's Shayetet 13 special operations unit and was wounded during the Gaza flotilla raid in 2010. [1]
Ginsberg had resided with his family in Dovrat since 2015 and served as the kibbutz's security coordinator. [1]
The 1st "Golani" Brigade is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the others being the Paratroopers Brigade, the Nahal Brigade, the Givati Brigade and the Kfir Brigade. Its symbol is a green olive tree against a yellow background, with its soldiers wearing a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the IDF. The brigade consists of five battalions, including two which it kept from its inception, one transferred from the Givati Brigade (51st).
Sayeret Matkal, is the special reconnaissance unit (sayeret) of Israel's General Staff (matkal). It is considered one of the premier special forces units of Israel.
Yamam, also known as National Counter-Terrorism Unit, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit, one of four special units of the Israel Border Police. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against terrorist targets in civilian areas. Besides military and counter-terrorism duties, it also performs tactical unit duties and undercover police work.
Zikim is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the northern Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 918.
Nirim is a kibbutz in the northwestern Negev in Israel. Located near the border with the Gaza Strip, about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) east of Khan Yunis, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 416.
Nahal Oz is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the northwestern part of the Negev desert close to the border with the Gaza Strip and near the development towns of Sderot and Netivot, it is under the jurisdiction of Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 479. A nearby IDF military base is known by the same name.
Mista‘arvim, also spelled mista‘aravim, is the name given to certain units in the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Border Police, and Israel Police that assimilate into local Arab populations to operate undercover while gathering intelligence or conducting law enforcement, hostage rescue, and counter-terrorism operations.
Unit 5101, more commonly known as Shaldag, is one of the premier Israeli Air Force (IAF) Sayeret units. The unit is part of the 7th Special Air Forces Wing and is based in the Palmachim Airbase. The unit is led by an officer at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Nir Oz is a kibbutz in southern Israel. It is located in the northwestern Negev desert between Magen and Nirim, and covers 20,000 dunams. Nir Oz is under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 380. The Palestinian militant group Hamas invaded the kibbutz early on 7 October 2023, resulting in a massacre in which about one-quarter of Nir Oz's residents were killed or taken hostage.
Re'im is a secular kibbutz in southern Israel, and one of the Gaza vicinity villages. Located at the confluence of Besor Stream and Gerar Stream in the north-western Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 422.
The Hannibal Directive, also translated as Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is the name of a controversial procedure used by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one version, it says that "the kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces." It was introduced in 1986, after a number of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent controversial prisoner exchanges. The full text of the directive was never published, and until 2003, Israeli military censorship forbade any discussion of the subject in the press. The directive has been changed several times, and in 2016 Gadi Eizenkot ordered the formal revocation of the standing directive and the reformulation of the protocol.
Yossi Bachar is an Israeli Major general (Aluf) who commands the IDF's General Staff Corps.
On 7 October 2023, in the opening attacks of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, Hamas militants carried out a massacre at Be'eri, an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Gazan militants and civilian looters attacked the kibbutz, killing and abducting civilians while facing resistance from armed residents. Israeli security forces regained control by the evening of October 8. A total of 101 Israeli civilians and 31 security personnel were killed and 32 hostages were taken from the kibbutz. At least 100 Gazan militants were also killed and 18 were captured.
As part of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, a military engagement took place near Zikim, Israel between Hamas militants and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to Haaretz, Hamas's goal was to capture Zikim's military training base. The Israeli navy prevented most Hamas militants from landing on the beach, although an estimated 11 militants landed from a vessel that went through. Fighting took place outside Zikim, at three military bases, and on the adjacent coastline. The garrison of the training base held out, but the other two bases were overrun, and a civilian security team prevented an incursion into the kibbutz. An estimated 19 civilian beachgoers were killed.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the Qassam Brigades-initiated 7 October attacks on Israel, a series of coordinated armed incursions into the Gaza Envelope, around 30 militants from Hamas' Qassam Brigades attacked Kibbutz Sufa and then overran a nearby military outpost.
The Nahal Oz attack was an assault on the kibbutz of Nahal Oz and the adjacent military base near the northern Gaza Strip on the morning of 7 October 2023 as part of a 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. In the attack, more than 60 Israeli soldiers and fifteen civilians were killed. Some soldiers and eight civilians were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. The IDF claims that several dead bodies were also taken to the Gaza Strip after being killed at the base or kibbutz.
On 7 October 2023, a surprise assault was launched on Israel by Hamas militants coming from the Gaza Strip. One of their targets was Nirim, a kibbutz located in the southern part of Israel, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the border with Gaza. Five kibbutz civilians were killed, many were injured and an unknown number of civilians were kidnapped and taken hostage to Gaza.
On 7 October 2023, dozens of Hamas militants attacked Alumim, a kibbutz close to the border fence with the Gaza Strip, as part of the surprise attack on Israel. There were 41 Thai and Nepalese foreigners working at the kibbutz. The militants killed between 16 and 17 of these workers and kidnapped between five and eight of them. The kibbutz's security team were too far away and unable to save the employees. The militants did severe structural damage to the Kibbutz's dairy farming operation.
On 7 October 2023, as part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the Nir Oz attack, the Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas abducted the Israeli-Argentinian/Peruvian Bibas family from the Nir Oz kibbutz: 9-month-old Kfir, 4-year-old Ariel, 32-year-old mother Shiri, and her 34-year-old husband Yarden. The youngest child, baby Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken in the 7 October 2023 attacks. Shiri's parents, who also lived on the kibbutz, were later found murdered.
Elhanan Team, also spelled Elchanan Team or Kalmanson Team, was the name of an Israeli ad-hoc defensive group during the October 7 attacks, consisting of brothers Elhanan and Menachem Kalmanson and their nephew Itiel Zohar. The three traveled from their home to confront Hamas militants during the massacre in Kibbutz Be'eri near the Gaza Strip, during which Elhanan was killed on the morning of October 8. For their actions, in 2024 the team was awarded the Israel Prize for Civilian Heroism, Israel's highest civilian honor.