Omri Niv Feirstein

Sgt Omri Niv Feirstein, z"l, from Givatayim, served in the Rescue and Training Division of the Home Front Command. He was stationed at the Zikim army base that was overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. Elana Kaminka, the mother of a fellow officer there recalls the information she received about Omri's final hours:

"At 6:30 in the morning, the base came under heavy artillery fire. They said afterward they found something like 35 missile heads within the base’s perimeter. So heavy, heavy artillery fire,” Elana said.

According to protocol, everyone inside the base, including the trainees and staff, ran to the bomb shelters. There was also a religious family who was inside that had been visiting.

Outside, civilians were on the beach throwing a party. Some were killed immediately when Hamas attacked, while others ran from the coastline into the base perimeter.

Once inside the shelter, the staff sergeants realized the trainees could not handle the situation and took over their posts.

So, all the officers and sergeants put themselves on the front line. It wasn’t a situation where the officers were sitting in the comfy room and putting the grunts at risk. It was the opposite. They protected their soldiers.

The commanders soon find themselves under heavy fire from three Hamas cells around the perimeter. The team communicated using WhatsApp, firing off messages to call for medics and report grenades. One of the sergeants was then hit. She was seriously injured and remains in critical condition in the hospital. Another sergeant then filled the position before getting injured.

Yannai left his post and ran there to give them the backup. He was there, him another officer and two sergeants, and they came under heavy attack by a Hamas cell. They fought for quite a long time. They started sending out, you know, calls again, "ammo, ammo." They needed more ammo. Then, the last message was at 8:13 a.m. One of them wrote, "I’m injured." And then the connection cut off.

All four of them were killed. In total, three officers (Adir Abudi, Or Mozes, and Adar Ben Simon), two sergeants (Eden Levy and Omri Niv Fierstein) and one trainee (Neria Nagri) were also killed in the attack.

Recollections from the IDF suggest that the team took out one to three Hamas terrorists before getting hit with an explosive.

One of the surviving terrorists ran inside the base and was confronted by the trainees. The Hamas agent killed one trainee before another grabbed him. The trainee was shot in the arm in the scuffle, while another was able to neutralize the terrorist.

The actions of Yannai and his comrades saved the lives of over 90 trainees and approximately 30 other soldiers and civilians inside of Zikim. As a result of their actions, Kibbutz Zikim, which is adjacent to the base, was able to prepare. There were no casualties in the kibbutz.