| Merhavim
The Merhavim Regional Council is located at the heart of the Negev. The Hebrew word "merhavim" means wide open spaces, and as its name suggests Merhavim contains vast fields stretching to the horizon, a peaceful landscape in shades of green and brown, and hills adorned with orchards.
Merhavim was founded in 1951. Within its jurisdiction are 14 moshavim: Eshbol, Bitha, Gilat, Maslul, Nir Moshe, Nir Akiva, Peduim, Patish, Pa'amei Tashaz, Klahim, Ranen, Sde Tzvi, Talmei Bilu and Tifrah; two community settlements: Mabu'im and Shavei Darom, built to rehouse evacuees from Gush Katif; the Adi Negev-Nahalat Eran rehabilitation village; the Eshel HaNasi Youth Village; and the Hatzerim neighborhood for air force personnel.
Events of October 7
The communities in the Merhavim Regional Council enjoyed a sense of security, even without fences and emergency response teams—until the morning of October 7, 2023, when everything changed. At 6:40 am, the council received the first notification of a heavy rocket attack across the entire country. An hour later it already became clear that this was an attack of a different sort.
All the residents were instructed to remain in their security rooms and to lock the doors of their homes. The council mapped the weapon holders in the communities and set up emergency response teams. The residents acted with bravery and determination, ensuring the security and protection of the Merhavim community from the outset of the fighting. Numerous residents of Maslul and Patish rescued more than a thousand young people who were attending the rave at Re'im, attended to their needs, contacted their parents and arranged bus transportation to a pickup point in Be'er Sheva.
The Merhavim Regional Council experienced heavy losses. The entire region is bleeding and in pain over the loss of 16 of its residents, among them soldiers who fell bravely defending the homeland and civilians who were murdered in cold blood.
The Merhavim residents recognize the dedication and immense commitment of the communities and are clinging to one goal: "to heal our unimaginable pain and to rebuild our communities. This is a difficult assignment and there are those who think it is impossible. But we will not let anything break us. Our eternal people is not afraid of the long road ahead."
"What has remained with me are the images of the kids who arrived here. That’s when I realized what a horror movie we had been through."
On Saturday morning Dikla Havivyan of Moshav Patish received a phone call from Elad, a former student. Elad told her that he and a few friends had just fled the Nova music festival and needed help. He asked her to come and she immediately agreed.
Ofer, Dikla's husband, started driving toward the location he was given. "I went to get Elad. I didn't know that at the same time other young people were streaming into the moshav, fleeing the scene of horror. I took a side road. Only later did I learn that just a minute earlier the terrorists' vehicle had passed there on its way to Ofakim."
During those minutes, Dikla waited for her husband Ofer and her former student Elad. But he did not stay home, instead returning to the field to pick up his employee from the battle zone. "What has remained with me are the images of the kids who arrived here—their confusion, the extent of their fear. I felt responsible for all those kids, and when they left me I burst into tears. That’s when I realized what a horror movie we had been through."
"You don't think about yourself. All you want to do is to save as many people as possible."
Saturday, 6:22 am. The Davidian family of Moshav Maslul, adjacent to Ofakim, is awakened by the sounds of shelling and shooting. Oz (52) and his wife, together with three of their daughters who are home at the time, run to the security room and close the door. At that moment Oz receives a message on the family WhatsApp group from his brother-in-law, who was at the family farm close to the site of the rave party: "There are lots of wounded kids here. Who can help?" Oz leaves the security room, grabs several bottles of water and rushes to the site, where he joins his sisters and his brother who live on the neighboring Moshav Patish.
Oz enters the area, looking for young people who are alive and in need of rescue. He finds them hiding among the cactuses and bushes, wounded and bleeding, barefoot, seeking shelter in wadis and elsewhere, scared to death. He loads them onto his pickup truck and drives them to Patish, where his mother and sisters take them in.
Stories of Heroism
