IDF: Security squad, local mom, saved moshav from massacre

Even after the IDF withdrew, residents found terrorists still surrendering inside the moshav.

By World Israel News Staff

Members of the local security squad in Moshav Yated saved their community from invading Hamas terrorists on October 7, as the IDF lagged in its response, according to findings from an army probe published Wednesday morning.

No residents of the Gaza-adjacent agricultural community were murdered in the massacre. The army credited the quick action of Yated’s armed local emergency response team — together with civilian residents, including a local mother — for preventing a mass slaughter in the community.

Just 10 minutes after the first rocket launches from Gaza and the breach of the border fence, Yated’s security coordinator sprang into action. He activated the emergency response squad, instructed armed residents to patrol the community’s perimeter, opened bomb shelters, and locked the moshav’s gates.

By 9:30 a.m., residents reported spotting terrorists near their homes. Yated’s security squad quickly responded, neutralizing five terrorists and wounding them, though none were killed.

Nasreen Yousef, a Druze mother of four, played a pivotal role in halting the assault. A native Arabic speaker, she tricked several terrorists into revealing their plans, then passed that information on to the IDF. Her husband, Eyad, a career IDF officer and member of the moshav’s security squad, managed to trap several terrorists in the yard of their home.

“I was in flip-flops, running backward and forward with bits of string and cable ties to tie them up, with towels and floor rags for hoods,” Yousef told the The Times of Israel in January 2024.

“If I hadn’t gone out and asked questions and spoken, probably half our community, or most of them, wouldn’t be around anymore,” she added.

The Yousefs held the terrorists for many hours until the IDF arrived.

According to the probe, it took a significant amount of time for the army to respond to Yated. The first soldiers arrived at 1:30 a.m.—some 18 hours after the infiltration into the moshav. The army withdrew at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, 24 hours after the invasion, but was later called back by residents who discovered additional terrorists surrendering in the community.