| Magen Region
Kibbutz Magen is located in the Eshkol Regional Council. The kibbutz was founded in 1949 by two groups from the Hashomer Hatsair Youth Movement—a group of Israeli residents and a group of new immigrants from Romania.
The kibbutz community is secular and has preserved its cooperative nature while offering various entrepreneurship opportunities, with an emphasis on social solidarity. The kibbutz is situated 4.7 kilometers from the border with Gaza and thus did not meet the criterion (4.5 kilometers from the border) for inclusion in the program to fortify the Gaza Envelope communities. After Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 the government finally decided to fortify communities within this range, including Kibbutz Magen. The fortification was completed only after Operation Protective Edge in 2015.
Kibbutz Magen's main sources of income include Magen eco-Energy, a company that manufactures solar energy systems, as well as agriculture and a dairy barn. The kibbutz also offers tourism activities for the entire family, among them the Zoo Havaya zoological garden, an art gallery and more.
Within the kibbutz is an observation point called Givat HaSheikh (The Sheikh Hill), which is the highest point in the entire region.
Events of October 7
On the morning of October 7 a squad of around 20 terrorists approached the western fence of the kibbutz. Terrorists mounted on two motorcycles blew up the fence and infiltrated the kibbutz. The kibbutz emergency response team under the leadership of Baruch Cohen, the kibbutz security coordinator, grabbed their equipment and began shooting at the terrorists, who were also armed with RPG rockets and grenades. The team managed to kill many of the terrorists and drive away the others.
During the shooting, Avi Fleisher, a member of the emergency response team, was killed. Cohen was also shot and wounded while attempting to run over terrorists with his car. Dr. Shani Caspi left the security room after someone knocked on her parents' door asking for help. Dr. Caspi and her partner on the medical team loaded three wounded individuals into their car and raced out of the kibbutz. Ma'on Junction was blocked and all the roads were being shot at, forcing them to head south towards Tse'elim. On their way they called Magen David Adom to arrange for an evacuation helicopter to land at Revivim, 60 kilometers away. The medical team loaded the wounded onto the helicopter and returned to Magen. IDF forces reached the region only after seven hours had elapsed. Another member of the kibbutz, Ophir Yaron, was missing, and his body was discovered a few days later.
On October 8 terrorists again attempted to infiltrate the kibbutz but were repelled by the IDF. On October 9 the kibbutz members were evacuated to the Dead Sea region.
On October 7 Dr. Shani Caspi (34), her spouse and their two children were sheltering in the security room in her parents' home on Kibbutz Magen. When someone knocked on her parents' door asking for help, she immediately responded. Three members of the security response team had been wounded, and Shani and her medical team decided to evacuate them in their car. They drove out of the kibbutz at 180 kph, under fire and without medical equipment.
Shani recalls: "There was no one who could help. We understood we were alone." They devised improvised stretchers out of tarps and brought the wounded to a meeting point near Revivim, where a helicopter was waiting for them.
The lives of two people—Nadav Rot and Baruch Cohen—were saved thanks to Dr. Shani. Sadly, Avi Fleischer did not survive. Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Director General of the Ministry of Health, commended her: "Dr. Shani Caspi is a heroine of Israel."
Stories of Heroism
