In the last moments of his life, Staff Sergeant Noam Apter, upon immediately realizing what was happening, managed to lock the sliding door separating the kitchen and the dining room, before he was killed by the militants.

[2] The majority of the students in the dining room managed to hide underneath the tables while some of them, who were carrying weapons with them, returned fire at the militants.

During the event soldiers from Lavi Battalion rushed to the scene and waged a 30-minutes gun battle with one of the militants, who had barricaded himself in the kitchen room, before being shot dead.

During the exchange of fire the second militant managed to flee the building, and ran through the valley south of the settlement towards Dahariya.

Additional IDF forces from the Nahal Brigade assisted by a tracker pursued the second militant and approached him near a large quarry.