Report reveals dramatic new information about Oct 7 failures leading to Nova party massacre

IDF didn't share intelligence with police, didn't send reinforcements in time

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Israel’s Channel 12 News published new information over the weekend about the Nova party massacre on Oct. 7, indicating that the police didn’t receive intelligence warnings from the Israeli army in advance.

According to the findings, the southern district of the Israel Police had concerns over the music festival being held just several hundred meters from the border with Gaza, near Kibbutz Re'im.

The day before the party began, the police commander responsible for the event had asked the IDF for plans regarding a possible terrorist infiltration.

Eyal Azoulai, commander of the Negev region on Oct. 7, said that, at first, the festival had not been approved to continue through Saturday because of riots along the border fence at the time.

“I turn to a senior officer from Southern Command and ask him a precise question: Is there some security consideration that I should be aware of? The answer I I received was that the consideration wasn’t about security,” Azoulai told Channel 12.

“We wanted to understand if it is possible to have some kind of military force with an armored vehicle there,” he added. “The army informed us that its decision is to provide regional security, not the security of soldiers.”

In addition, the report revealed that within the army, knowledge of a large-scale party near the border was only passed down to the battalion commanders. This meant that lower-ranking officers were unaware of the event when the Hamas invasion began.

Even during the high-level discussions among senior IDF commanders during the night, just hours before the attack, the party was not mentioned. Furthermore, to protect intelligence sources, no warning was provided to the police.

“Israel Police received no indication that anything was taking place,” Azoulai stated. “Maybe if we had been a part of [the discussions], we could at least have made a decision to shut down the party.”

The Hamas invasion began with massive rocket fire, causing partygoers to flee the area. Police officers directed them to get in their vehicles and escape via Road 232, either to the north or south.

Those who immediately fled and continued without stopping, despite the ongoing rocket fire, were able to escape to safety.

The IDF Home Front Command usually instructs those traveling in a vehicle to exit and seek shelter or lie flat on the ground in the case of rocket alarms.

On the morning of Oct. 7, many who sought refuge in shelters were later killed inside them.

According to the report, the decision of the Police’s Southern District to stop the party in the first minutes of the invasion, lower the fences, open the escape routes, and disperse the participants saved countless lives.

A little before 7 a.m., Hamas terrorists took over Mefalsim Junction to the north of Kibbutz Re’im and began killing those who were fleeing in that direction. The police quickly realized what was happening and blocked the road in that direction.

Police officers then instructed the partygoers to begin walking on dirt roads toward the east, away from Gaza, and pulled many who were standing in traffic out of their vehicles, giving them the same instructions. This saved hundreds of lives, according to the report.

While the terrorists allegedly had no prior information about the party, about an hour and a half after the start of the invasion, they noticed the large event and began arriving from two directions.

A battle ensued at the entrance to the party grounds, with terrorists armed with rifles, grenades, and RPGs, overwhelming the few police officers and civilians who tried to hold them off.

After the barrier was breached following an hour-long battle, the Nova massacre began.

Despite the magnitude of the mass event, with thousands of attendees, its location wasn’t prioritized for immediate army reinforcement.

Large forces only began arriving at the scene around noon, after then-Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai called IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and told him there was no security response in the area.

Senior military officials later stated that the police should have evacuated the area of the music festival. They noted that the IDF was told the attendees had already been dispersed, leading them to consider the area a lower priority amid the many battlegrounds that morning.

Israel Defense Forces responded to the Channel 12 report, stating: “The findings presented do not constitute the IDF’s investigation into the party. The battle at the ‘Nova’ party is being investigated these days and is still ongoing. When it is concluded, it will be presented to the public transparently.”