A squad of eight Hamas terrorists wreaked havoc at Moshav Yakhini and a nearby highway during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, before all were eliminated by police officers within a few hours, according to an Israel Defense Forces probe published Wednesday.

During the attack, the terrorists murdered 11 people on Route 34, just outside the town, including a soldier and a firefighter. Inside Yakhini, four other civilians were murdered, and an IDF officer and a Border Police officer were killed in the fighting.

No hostages were taken from the community.

The probe found that “despite the difficult starting conditions, police officers, troops, and civilians “engaged the attackers while risking their lives… fought with professionalism, bravery, and self-sacrifice, and eliminated all eight terrorists who carried out the murderous attack in the community in the early hours.”

Similar to other investigations, the probe concluded that the IDF “failed to defend the Yakhini area,” mainly because the military never prepared for such an event: an Israeli community being attacked by terrorists, as well as a widespread attack on numerous towns and army bases simultaneously by thousands of terrorists.

The findings published Wednesday are the latest in a series of detailed investigations into some 40 battles and massacres that took place during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when about 5,600 terrorists stormed across the border, killed some 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages into Gaza, where dozens remain captive.

The probe, carried out by Lt. Col. Tzafrir Har-Shoshanim, covered all aspects of the fighting in Yakhini and the surrounding area. The IDF said the investigators made visits to the scene and reviewed every possible source of information.

The Yakhini probe was aimed at drawing specific operational conclusions for the military. It did not examine the wider picture of the military’s perception of Gaza and Hamas in recent years, which has been covered in separate, larger investigations into the IDF’s intelligence and defenses.

At 7:05 a.m., as part of Hamas’s second wave of terrorists during the onslaught, a squad of eight gunmen infiltrated through the Gaza border in a vehicle. At 7:21 a.m., the terrorists reached Gevim Junction, where they unsuccessfully attempted to break into a gas station where 12 civilians were sheltering.

The terrorists proceeded to Kibbutz Gevim at 7:24 a.m., where they were blocked by the community’s security coordinator and another armed resident. The pair exchanged fire with the terrorists, and were injured, but the squad withdrew back to the junction.

At 7:28 a.m., the terrorists drove against the traffic on Route 34 and murdered eight civilians within a short time: Liam Shrem, Yonatan ‘Johnny’ Zeidman, Ilai Baram — who together fled the Nova music festival — Michael Murzakhanov, Loreta Alacre, Zahigo Leo, Geani Leo, and Roi Moshe.

At 7:37 a.m., three partygoers who fled the outdoor Nova party reached the moshav’s entrance gate and entered a nearby bomb shelter. Two minutes later, the eight terrorists entered Yakhini through the pedestrian gate, as the vehicle gate was locked, and captured the three civilians in the bomb shelter.

The terrorists split up, with a first team of three staying near the gate and the other five pushing into the moshav, taking one of the partygoers with them.

The first team of terrorists tried to abduct the two partygoers from the shelter to their pickup truck, but a team of Border Police officers reached the area at the same time and thwarted the attempt.

The officers opened fire on the terrorists, who also returned fire while fleeing into Yakhini. The two female civilians managed to escape, hiding in the trunk of their car. During the exchange of fire with the terrorists, one of the partygoers and a police officer were wounded.

At 7:42 a.m., a resident off-duty IDF officer from the Givati Brigade, after hearing shouting in the moshav, drove to the community’s synagogue to warn the worshippers and those in the area that terrorists had infiltrated.

A minute later, an officer of the IDF’s Maglan commando unit and two police officers — a Border Police commander and a patrolwoman —  arrived at the moshav and entered to engage the terrorists. Other police officers stayed at the entrance to block the nearby junction and treat the wounded.

Between 7:44 and 7:52 a.m., the second team of terrorists opened fire and hurled grenades at homes, murdering Nova partygoer Ilan Avraham and residents Yizhar Hagbi and Elitzur Hagbi.

At 7:47 a.m., the Border Police commander was hit by the terrorists’ gunfire, but managed to return fire and hit one of them.

The Maglan officer and patrolwoman managed to push forward and take up a position in the yard of a home. The Maglan officer then spotted three terrorists from the first team and opened fire, hitting two of them. He then came under fire from the second team of terrorists and was slightly wounded.

At 7:49 a.m., troops of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit arrived at the moshav and engaged the terrorists.

The Givati officer and a member of the moshav’s local security team, who were in a car driving to the entrance to assist in the fighting, came under fire from the terrorists. The officer was wounded and his car was badly damaged. The two then withdrew and went to defend the nearby homes.

At 7:54 a.m., Maj. Peleg Salem, the logistics officer of the IDF’s 460th Brigade and a resident of Yakhini, left his home after hearing gunfire. He spotted the terrorists trying to breach a nearby house and engaged them. During an exchange of fire, Salem was killed.

At 8:01 a.m., the second team of terrorists hijacked a resident’s car and drove to the home of the moshav’s security coordinator. The terrorists fired on the home, fatally wounding the coordinator’s nephew, Yehonatan Hagbi, who died some three hours later as no medical force was able to reach him.

Three minutes later, after the terrorists failed to breach another home, they fled out of the moshav using the car, heading toward the fields to the north of Yakhini.

The terrorists then turned around back to Route 34, and set an ambush on the road between Kibbutz Gevim and Yakhini. At 8:09 a.m., the Border Police commander passed by the area on foot but failed to spot the terrorists.

At 8:11, two partygoers fleeing the Nova party, Shani Amin and Adam Ilaev, drove down Route 34 and approached the area. They were ambushed by the terrorists and both were murdered.

At 8:14 a.m., Sgt. Amit Guetta, a Maglan soldier who was heading to join his unit, arrived at the area in his car and spotted the cell of terrorists. Guetta made a U-turn while coming under fire from the terrorists. He then drove until crashing into a barrier near Yakhini, where he succumbed to his wounds.

The probe said Guetta’s actions disrupted the terrorists’ plans, as they left their ambush location to commandeer an abandoned police vehicle, which they drove toward the moshav.

Cops in the area opened fire on the terrorists as they fled, while an officer in the police’s elite Yamam unit began a pursuit after them in a civilian’s car, whom he stopped on the side of the road.

Close to Yakhini Junction, the terrorists stopped and abandoned the police car. The Yamam officer rushed toward the cell, killing three of the five Hamas gunmen. Other police officers in the area also opened fire, and one cop was wounded in the exchange.

The two surviving terrorists at 8:19 a.m. managed to hijack an abandoned security vehicle, which they drove toward the nearby city of Netivot. Police set up roadblocks in the area, and officers killed the pair at a junction near Netivot at 8:28 a.m., ending the chase.

Meanwhile, the fight against the first team of terrorists continued inside Yakhini.

The Yamam officer, after killing the three terrorists from the second team outside Yakhini, joined up with other officers and soldiers and entered the moshav.

At 8:32 a.m., the force advanced toward a house where one terrorist was believed to have been holed up. Ten minutes later, as the forces were about to breach into the home, they came under fire from the other terrorists hiding in a nearby olive grove and a mobile home. The Yamam officer and a Sayeret Maktal soldier were wounded.

At 8:45 a.m., the wounded officers were evacuated, as other cops breached the home where they suspected a terrorist was still. Inside, they rescued four women hiding in the house’s bomb safe room.

At 8:51 a.m., additional Border Police officers entered the moshav to continue the fighting. At 9:10 a.m., the Border Police commander arrived with additional reinforcements and deployed them around the olive grove to surround the terrorists.

At 9:17 a.m., two Yamam officers in an armored vehicle drove into the grove in an attempt to locate the terrorists. The officers came under fire and their vehicle was disabled, but they managed to get out and shoot one of the terrorists.

At 9:25 a.m., four armed residents from the nearby community of Nir Moshe mistakenly fired on the Border Police police officers, before realizing they were not terrorists. They then joined the fight.

At 9:40, more troops, including Sayeret Matkal soldiers and a retired general, joined the forces at the grove.

Ten minutes later, two terrorists were located by a drone operated by a civilian, and they were killed a short while later by Yamam officers.

At 10:17 a.m., the grove was declared clear of terrorists, and the forces began to sweep the nearby homes.

At 10:40 a.m., a terrorist hiding inside the mobile home outside opened fire and killed police Sgt. Ravit Assayag. Yamam officers then eliminated the terrorist, ending the fighting in the moshav.

The police officers continued to search the community until noon, before heading to the nearby city of Ofakim to battle terrorists there.

Additional troops were deployed to the moshav over the following days, though they did not encounter any terrorists.