Kan 7.10.360 | The Gat family from Kibbutz Beeri on October 7

On Friday, Eshel and Kinneret Gat hosted their three children, Alon, Carmel and Or, for the holiday meal. Alon, his wife Yarden, their 3-year-old daughter Geffen and Carmel, stayed to sleep in the kibbutz. Alon and Carmel planned to go for a run the next day at 6:00am, but Carmel asked they postpone it by an hour. As they prepare to go out, the sirens start and the family members enter the safe room.

First terrorists infiltrate Beeri. Residents are alerted and asked to enter the safe rooms and lock them.

Eshel, Kinneret and Carmel leave the safe room to use the bathroom and stock up. At the same time, terrorists emerge from the back door of the house. Eshel hides in the inner room of the bathroom, Kinneret, his wife, tries to hide in the kitchen while Alon tries to hide Yarden and little Geffen in one of the cabinets in the safe room, but without success.

The terrorists seize Carmel and Kinneret and take them out. Soon after, Alon walks out to the terrorists who grab him and tie his hands.

The terrorists return to the house and search for more family members. Yarden, who already knows what is happening in other houses, realizes that the chances of her surviving are low and she goes out with Geffen towards the terrorists in the house. They take them to the place where they keep Alon.

The terrorists take Alon, Yarden and Geffen into the vehicle they stole and begin to drive towards the exit from the kibbutz. Before leaving, through a loophole in the fence, the terrorists also take Tal Shoham, who was kidnapped from another house, into the car and put him in the trunk. At the same time, in the family home, the terrorists move between the rooms, looking for more people. They try to break through the bathroom door where Eshel is hiding, apparently without knowing he is there. They shoot at the door, but it remains closed.

A few hundred meters from the border fence, the terrorists notice an IDF tank. They get out of the car and run to hide behind nearby trees. Alon and Yarden take the opportunity to jump out of the car: she, with Geffen on her, through the right door, while Alon, who untied the cuffs from his hands during the ride, jumps from the left. They run towards a nearby outpost, but see no soldiers there. At this point Yarden passes Geffen to Alon, and the three run towards a nearby grove and hide behind trees. Terrorists spot them and shoot at them, but miss. Yarden is left to hide behind a tree, while Alon picks up Geffen and starts running.

Yarden tries to hide, but the terrorists see her. They drag her to the vehicle and drive with her towards the Gaza Strip. Alon finds a ground fold and hides in it with Geffen. He lies down on top of her and covers himself with thorns and earth.

A vehicle with Hamas terrorists tries to locate Alon and Geffen and repeatedly drive near their hideout, but they do not notice them and leave the scene. At the same time, Yarden arrives in Gaza to the sound of crowds of civilians applauding.

Eshel receives a video distributed by Hamas on Telegram showing Kinneret being held by a group of terrorists, along with several other residents. This will be the last record of Kinneret alive.

After more than eight hours in which they hid in near-motionless silence, Alon and Geffen leave the hideout and progress on a slow walk towards Beeri. As they get close to the Kibbutz, Alon hears an exchange of fire and decides to stay with Geffen outside the kibbutz for the night.

In the morning, after a whole night with Geffen hiding outside the Kibbutz, Alon notices that the sound of gunfire is weakening. He cautiously approaches Beeri's back entrance, joins IDF forces, and immediately calls his father's Eshel.