Yakhini massacre

Yakhini massacre
Native name	הטבח ביכיני
Location	Yakhini, Israel
Coordinates	31°29′00″N 34°36′00″E
Date	October 7, 2023 (2023-10-07) 7:40 am – Unknown
Attack type	Mass shooting
Deaths	7 civilians, 1 Israeli border guard
Injured	2
Perpetrator	Hamas
Motive	Antisemitism, Islamic extremism

The Yakhini massacre (Template:Lang-he) was a massacre carried out by Hamas on the morning of October 7, 2023, in Moshav Yakhini near the northern Gaza Strip, as part of a surprise attack on Israel. Several residents of the moshav were murdered in the massacre.

Background

On the morning of Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. Under the cover of thousands of rockets fired into Israel, hundreds of militants infiltrated multiple Israeli communities and military facilities. The militants engaged in gun battles with security forces and advanced into the communities, where they shot and killed civilians and abducted at least 200 people into the Gaza Strip, including women, the elderly and babies.

Massacre

At around 7:40 a.m. on October 7, 2023, a squad of Hamas militants raided the moshav through a side gate at the entrance, because the main gate was locked due to a community decision by the traditional community to close the gates on Saturday.

The militants murdered four people, and later murdered three other men, one of them in his home and one of them while walking his dog. In addition, a Border Police officer was killed in an exchange of fire during an assault on one of the buildings.

The moshav leader was in Thailand at the time, and conducted the containment battle against them through a local Chabad house, until he got a flight to Israel. A video filmed from a security camera at the moshav gate shows the terrorists, armed with assault rifles, unloading from a pickup truck and raiding the moshav. A short time later, one of them is seen shooting at two young women who were taking cover behind a vehicle at the entrance gate to the moshav.

One of the murdered was Yehonatan Hajabi, whose father Nir Hajabi, a battalion commander, came to command his reserve battalion even before his funeral, saying: "I will find the time to mourn my son – now we have to fight."