Nachal Oz is an army base located 850 meters from the Israeli border with Gaza. It was the single worst-harmed base in the Hamas onslaught, but the bravery of its defenders has become legendary. This is the story of the courage of Nachal Oz.
On the morning of October 7th, 162 soldiers were stationed at the Nachal Oz base, of which 81 were combat soldiers. The personnel included two tank crews, infantry from the Golani Brigade, female tatzpitaniot (surveillance operators), and a handful of senior officers. A lone soldier guarded the entry to the base. Throughout that fateful day, 215 Hamas terrorists would swarm the installation in three distinct waves. By day’s end, 53 soldiers would lie dead and 10 taken hostage. Nachal Oz suffered the heaviest casualties of any army base on October 7th, becoming for many a symbol of that day’s catastrophic failures. Yet amid this national and military tragedy, young men and women fought with extraordinary heroism against overwhelming odds. This is the story of three such young leaders, all officers – Shilo Har-Even, Yochai Duchan, and Daniel Perez – who fought and fell defending Israel that day.
Shilo Har-Even
Shilo Har-Even served as the mefaked pelugah (company commander) of the Golani soldiers assigned to border duty. At 5:30am, he was positioned at the Chetz Shachor memorial site near Kibbutz Kfar Azza with his armored vehicle and several of his soldiers.
At 6:30am, the initial assault began when 65 members of the Shejaya brigade attacked the Nachal Oz base, part of a coordinated offensive involving hundreds of terrorists striking all along the border. Shilo immediately took charge of defending Sa’ad, Mefalsim, and Nachal Oz, the kibbutzim in his vicinity. Thanks largely to his decisive actions, terrorists failed to infiltrate Sa’ad and Mefalsim. He simultaneously issued critical directives to the soldiers at Nachal Oz, instructing them on repelling the invaders.
Senior IDF command had descended into chaos. In one telling incident, the Machat (regional commander) of the entire Northern Gaza region instructed a single tank driver to clear all terrorists from the base – a command utterly disconnected from the reality on the ground. Shilo, despite his junior rank, effectively coordinated the defense of an expansive area encompassing 7 kilometers of border, 5 kibbutzim, and multiple military installations. This responsibility fell to him after one of Nachal Oz’s highest-ranking officers, Nir Boimflek, was shot and injured by terrorists before 7am. Shilo stepped into this leadership vacuum with remarkable composure and authority.
Positioned in his vehicle near the Gaza border when the attack commenced, Shilo, though a junior commander, took effective control of the defensive effort to prevent terrorists from breaching the Nachal Oz base. He maintained constant communication with the tatzpitaniot to track terrorist movements. Patrolling the border areas, he ran down and engaged terrorists, valiantly attempting to stem the tide of infiltrators.
During one fierce exchange, Shilo sustained a gunshot wound to his arm, which began bleeding profusely. His soldiers applied a tourniquet, but he refused to retreat and continued fighting.
Around 8:20am, he led a contingent of soldiers back to the Nachal Oz base in an attempt to reclaim it. He issued clear instructions for subsequent action: “Head to Kfar Azza, there is a killing spree happening there.” During this heroic counter-offensive, he and his soldiers were ambushed yet managed to eliminate dozens of terrorists who had already infiltrated the base. His WhatsApp status read “Ani leDodi veDodi li” (I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine) – words his mother later described as emblematic of how he lived and died, devoted to serving others.
Yochai Duchan
Yochai Duchan’s life was shaped by terrorism from an early age. When he was just five years old, his father Alexander was killed while serving as a member of the kitat konenut (rapid response team) in Chevron, murdered outside the Me’arat HaMachpela. After studying for six years at Yeshivat Eilat, Yochai enlisted in the IDF’s Golani Brigade.
Central to Hamas’ strategy for capturing the Nachal Oz base was seizing the chamal, the operations room – the nerve center from which the tatzpitaniot and commanders coordinated troop movements. Twenty-two soldiers were stationed inside the chamal, while Yochai and three comrades took defensive positions outside, providing crucial protection. For hours, terrorists attempted to breach their defenses without success. Yochai and his small team repelled wave after wave of attackers. When the terrorists demanded their surrender, Yochai defiantly shouted back, “We will not surrender!” After hours of relentless assault against insurmountable odds, the frustrated terrorists abandoned their direct assault and instead set fire to the operations room. Fifteen soldiers perished including Yochai, but seven managed to escape. The defenders’ ability to prevent terrorists from accessing the operations room enabled vital intelligence to continue flowing to other military units for hours and delayed the terrorists’ advance to other sections of the base.
Daniel Perez
Hamas’ attack strategy began with a barrage of rockets in the opening minutes, designed to drive soldiers into shelters where they would be concentrated and vulnerable. When Daniel Perez and his tank crew sought shelter, however, they were already in full combat gear. “You never know when the war is going to break out,” Daniel frequently reminded his soldiers. Once it became evident this was no routine rocket attack, Daniel and his crew immediately mounted their tank and rushed to the border to intercept the incoming terrorists. Subsequently, they received orders to return to the base for an unprecedented mission – to use their tank to engage terrorists who had infiltrated an Israeli installation. After completing this task, they ventured back beyond the base perimeter, where Daniel assumed command of Shilo Har-Even’s armored personnel carrier. Though Shilo and many of his team had fallen, the vehicle’s driver and two other soldiers remained alive with functioning weapons. Daniel swiftly incorporated them into his forces.
By approximately 8:30am, Daniel recognized that with dozens of terrorists having overrun Nachal Oz, captured soldiers might be transported into Gaza. Without waiting for orders, he informed his crew of their new mission – to prevent any hostages from being taken across the border.
During the heat of battle, Daniel spotted a suspicious figure and prepared to engage. At the last moment, he identified the figure as an IDF soldier, Shilo Carmi – isolated and exposed amid the day’s chaos. Daniel dismounted his tank and embraced the soldier. “Suddenly, I felt that I wasn’t alone,” Carmi later recounted. “He exuded confidence, he exuded calm.” Video footage of this encounter shows Daniel with his arm around the soldier, explaining his plan and how the soldier could assist.
The second wave of the assault brought 60 additional terrorists to Nachal Oz, all mounted on motorcycles and armed with RPG launchers, intent on perpetrating further atrocities. Daniel understood the lethal threat each attacker posed and made the courageous decision to engage them directly. In the ensuing heroic confrontation, Daniel and his crew neutralized the majority of these attackers. Tragically, their tank was eventually hit and overwhelmed. Daniel, Itai Chen, and Tomer Leibowitz were killed. The bodies of Daniel and Itai were taken to Gaza and remain in captivity. Matan Angrest, the tank’s driver, survived with burns and injuries to his arm but was captured. As of April 2025, Matan has endured nearly a year-and-a-half in captivity.
The dual legacy of Nachal Oz
The Nachal Oz base will forever bear two contrasting legacies. It stands as a stark symbol of Israel’s failure to protect its soldiers and civilians – an inadequately secured installation that faced an attack previously deemed impossible and which intelligence services failed to anticipate. This was the grim reality that confronted Shilo, Yochai, Daniel, and their fellow soldiers at 6:30am on October 7th.
Yet Nachal Oz will equally be remembered as a testament to the extraordinary selflessness and valor of its soldiers. Faced with an impossible situation they had no hand in creating, these heroes demonstrated remarkable courage, self-sacrifice, and determination. Something in their upbringing and training transformed these young men in their early twenties into exceptional leaders who confronted evil with unwavering resolve, willing to sacrifice their lives in defense of the people and Land of Israel. The chronicle of Nachal Oz remains incomplete without acknowledging this heroic courage. While politicians, military strategists, and intelligence officials must extract crucial lessons from the failures that culminated in October 7th, every Israeli and every Jew can draw inspiration from the courage displayed at Nachal Oz.
● This narrative is based extensively on the official army investigation of the events of October 7th which was published in January 2025, as well as the Uvda documentary aired in February 2025.
Rabbi Aron White is the Managing Editor of HaMizrachi magazine.