At 6:29 on the morning of Simchas Torah, the first sirens sounded in Kibbutz Alumim. In the Amar family home, they had not yet grasped the scale of what was happening. After years of escalations in the Gaza envelope, this seemed at first like just another alert. But within minutes, their son Nitai Amar HY"D already understood that something different was unfolding.
October 7th heroism
Nitai Amar's last battle in the envelope
Nobody called him up, but Nitai Amar HY"D understood he was needed and drove out on his own initiative into the battles of the Gaza envelope. In an interview, his father Micha'el returns to the moment they parted and to the battle his son fought with an M16 and two magazines against the terrorists
"Dad, they need me," he told his father Micha'el. Nitai, who served as an engineering officer in the Gaza Division, dressed quickly, took his father's car, and left the kibbutz. The family was certain his commander had called him up.
Only hours later did they discover the truth: no one had summoned him.
Watch the interview with Nitai Amar's father, Micha'el Amar
"It was completely voluntary"
"His commander said he didn't call him up at all," Micha'el recounts in an interview with Srugim. "It was completely voluntary. He decided, on his own initiative he decided to get up and help them because he understood what was happening there."
Around 6:45, barely fifteen minutes after the attack began, Nitai left Alumim and tried to reach his division. According to his father, at some point he turned toward Tel Gameh, near Re'im, where there were many terrorists and people fleeing from the festival area.
Nitai took up a position on the side of the road and entered combat. He made contact twice with the operations room and tried to call in forces. According to his father, from information the family received afterward, he succeeded in fighting there and eliminating terrorists.
"He fought the battle of his life," Micha'el says. "I believe he saved as many as possible. There are no cameras there, but I believe he fulfilled his mission, he did well, he saved as many as he could."
With an M16 and two magazines
The full picture of the battle is still unknown to the family. According to Micha'el, there were a few other armed people in the area, but they faced a massive number of terrorists who came through the road. Only in the afternoon hours did forces manage to reach the area where Nitai fought.
Micha'el returns again and again to his son's choice to leave the house that morning, even before the family understood what was truly happening outside.
"I don't know where this courage and this heroism came from, to say 'they need me' and to go out like that without fear, with an M16 and two magazines and conduct a battle until a quarter to two," he says.
Nitai fell in battle at Tel Gameh. Around 13:45-14:00, forces arrived in the area and found him. For his father, there is no doubt that the decision he made that morning was part of the same quality that characterized him all his life: to see that someone needs help, and to act.
"I'm sure he saved people," Micha'el says. "Everyone who mobilized themselves, all these guys who simply went out and didn't think about themselves, that's truly the salt of the earth. These are real heroes. They simply prevented an even greater disaster."
Micha'el Amar| צילום: Photo: Srugim
