Two civilian members of the kibbutz's security team including its leader, and one IDF soldier, were known to have been killed on the day of the attack.

Four other team members who were originally noted as missing and presumed abducted, were subsequently also identified as being killed on that day.

The final two were freed by the IDF in a targeted mission Operation Golden Hand during the Rafah offensive.

Affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, it supports the "Garin Tzabar" program for non-Israeli Jews serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

[citation needed] At around 6:30 on the morning of 7 October 2023, kibbutz residents were awoken by red alert sirens and what seemed to be louder than usual Iron Dome intercepter activity.

[5] The security team were unaware that the Hamas Nuseirat Battalion had arrived in vehicles at the front gate of the kibbutz and gained entry.

[3] The security team sent a member to investigate the smoke coming from the factory, considered to be the safest part of the kibbutz.

[5] The kibbutz security team fought the militants in an attempt to protect the residents, without IDF support.

[5] The kibbutz residents were locked in safe rooms for over 14 hours, without access to water, food or sanitation.

[4][6] The IDF only arrived at the kibbutz 12–13 hours after the attack began, when the militants had left and only looters remained.

[6] Four members of the response team, Boaz Avraham, Oren Goldin, Tal Chaimi and Lior Rudaeff, were missing and assumed to have been abducted.

[13][14] Moshe and Diana Rosen, elderly residents of the kibbutz, were injured when Hamas militants shot the lock of their safe room.

After heated discussion between Diana and the militant leader, they were set free and told to go back to the kibbutz, which they did.

[17] The two men taken hostage from the family, Louis Har and Fernando Marman, were freed by the IDF during a targeted mission, operation Golden Hand, in the city of Rafah on 12 February 2024.

Gaza Health officials said that 67 Palestinians were killed during the air strike including woman and children.

The surviving response team members indicate that at some time after the unsuccessful attempt on the factory, taking of the hostages and various firefights, the militants left the kibbutz, and were replaced by looters who did most of the ransacking of residential houses.