Battle of Nitzanim

Nitzanim was established in 1943 as a foothold in the Negev.[1] When the United Nations approved a partition plan on November 29, 1947, the kibbutz found itself outside the proposed Jewish state, isolated within territory allocated to the future Arab state.[2] After the partition decision, the settlement came under siege, with supplies reaching it only rarely, in armed convoys.[1]

On the night of May 16, 1948, women and children were evacuated to Be'er Tuvia in what became known as "Operation Baby," leaving 141 people to defend the kibbutz: 67 kibbutz members, including approximately ten women, and 74 fighters from the Givati Brigade.[2] The Givati Brigade — also designated the 5th Brigade — was founded and commanded by Shimon Avidan and was assigned to difficult fronts throughout the war.[5] A weapons inventory dated April 15, 1948, listed one mortar, one machine gun, 90 shells, and 19 rifles for Nitzanim's residents.[2] A shipment approved by the General Staff's ordnance department — including a PIAT anti-tank weapon, ammunition, explosives, and rifles — was delayed at Givati Brigade headquarters on June 6, the day before Nitzanim fell, after difficulties arranging a unit to carry it there on foot.[2]

Archival records of calls from an earlier attack on April 20, 1948, released by the IDF and Defense Ministry Archive in 2018, document the kibbutz's repeated appeals for help. At 11:30 that morning, a call to Givati Battalion 53 reported: "Nitzanim has been under mortar and machine-gun fire since morning. We have no contact with you." A later call warned that the enemy was digging in north of the camp, and another reported seven hours of uninterrupted shelling while requesting ammunition and weapons.[6]

On May 29, 1948, an Egyptian column of approximately 500 armored vehicles and cannons crossed Nitzanim while advancing north toward Ashdod; the column was halted near a bombed-out bridge by an Israeli air attack and a Givati counterattack.[7] Egyptian forces initially bypassed the kibbutz in that advance, but its position astride their supply route made it a target before the approaching truce.[1]

The Egyptian assault on Nitzanim began on the night of June 6, 1948, with shelling.[1][8] At first light on June 7, aircraft struck the settlement, followed by artillery and mortar fire as infantry and tanks advanced.[3] The 141 defenders faced the assault with barely a hundred weapons; their single machine gun quickly became inoperable, and their lone PIAT anti-tank weapon was disabled early in the fighting.[9][1]

The Egyptian Ninth Battalion led the assault, supported by troops from the Seventh Battalion, armor, artillery, and fighter-bombers.[10][1] An initial assault was repulsed before the Egyptians breached the perimeter and began to overwhelm the defenders position by position.[1] By around 10 a.m., the positions on Givat Ha-Michalim fell under tank bombardment and the other defensive positions began to collapse.[3] The defenders withdrew toward the dining room at "the Palace," where they formed a second line of defense.[3] Throughout the morning, wireless operator Mira Ben-Ari repeatedly called for reinforcements from the Givati Brigade commander; no help arrived.[8][3] Communications were down, the defenders were nearly out of ammunition and water, and there were no medical supplies for the wounded.[9]

Ben-Ari had sent her two-year-old son away with a friend before the battle began, remaining at the kibbutz because she was responsible for its communications.[8] According to her son Danny Ben-Ari, she sent final updates and an SOS on June 7; he said the SOS was received at brigade headquarters but drew no response.[11] The Palace was the last position to fall, in the late afternoon.[3]

When the commanders concluded that further resistance was futile, they decided to surrender.[12] A soldier sent toward the Egyptians carrying a white garment was shot and killed.[3] Commander Avraham Schwarzstein then approached the Egyptian lines with a white handkerchief and raised hands, and an Egyptian officer shot him. Ben-Ari followed, shot and killed that officer, and was then shot and killed by other Egyptian officers beside Schwarzstein.[12]

Debora Epstein, a 19-year-old volunteer from Montevideo, Uruguay, was among the international volunteers serving with Givati units defending Nitzanim.[13][14] A few hours before the kibbutz fell, she was badly wounded while tending to an injured comrade; she died that night in an Egyptian hospital as a prisoner of war.[14]

Reported casualty and prisoner figures differ across sources. Benny Morris records 33 defenders dead and 16 wounded when the commanders surrendered, with 105 Israelis surrendering; he also states that three or four prisoners were later murdered by Egyptians or irregulars.[1] A 2021 Maariv account reports that Ben-Ari and 32 other fighters died and that 106 kibbutz members and fighters were captured.[11] A Globes account gives higher killed figures — 37 dead, including three women, and 26 wounded — and states that all remaining defenders except three were captured.[3] A 2018 ynet report records 33 killed, 105 captured, and three fighters who escaped.[2] The sources do not reconcile these differing totals.

No Jews remained at Nitzanim after its surrender; the survivors were imprisoned in Egypt and returned to Israel after the war.[15] A photograph in the Yad Vashem archive, taken by an Egyptian officer and recovered after he was captured, shows Egyptian soldiers at the fallen kibbutz with looted Israeli weapons.[16]

In July 2018, the IDF and Defense Ministry Archive released a film shot by an Egyptian soldier during or shortly after the capture. Mostly silent, it shows damaged buildings and communication trenches, Egyptian soldiers and officers, a wounded Jewish man receiving care under the Red Crescent, women prisoners being escorted, and two captured undercover soldiers speaking with an Egyptian officer.[2][6]

The day after the battle, Givati's commander published a letter by the brigade's education officer, poet Abba Kovner, titled "Failure." The letter condemned surrender while defenders remained alive and had ammunition, and it was widely distributed.[17] Kovner's battle sheet accused the Nitzanim defenders of cowardice and of surrendering without justification, and his words became a lasting stain on the survivors' reputation.[4][17]

Nitzanim's members and their political body accused the high command of failing to arm the kibbutz adequately or to send relief.[1] A committee of inquiry, concluding its work in April 1949, found that the kibbutz members and soldiers had fought bravely, that the high command should have reinforced the settlement, and that Kovner's criticism was unwarranted; it also cleared Givati's commanders of political bias.[1] Then-Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori concluded that the Nitzanim fighters had fought to the last bullet.[11] Givati commander Shimon Avidan later apologized to kibbutz members.[11] Kovner did not retract his accusations, although he later attempted an apology that the defenders refused to hear.[4][11] A further military investigation was ordered in 1959 by Yitzhak Pundak, who had commanded Givati Battalion 53 and felt guilty that he had not managed to compel Givati commanders to assist the kibbutz.[17]

Nitzanim was liberated by Israeli forces on October 28, 1948, during Operation Yoav.[2][3] After liberation, the remains of the dead were collected and buried in a mass grave at the old cemetery.[2][3] Survivors returned from Egyptian captivity and rebuilt the kibbutz approximately two kilometers east of its original site in mid-1949.[3]

A memorial on Hill 69, near Nitzanim, commemorates 28 Givati soldiers who fell there in June 1948 fighting the Egyptian army.[18] The memorial became the symbolic center of the site and a venue for remembrance during visits and memorial ceremonies.[18] Nitzanim is also included among sites on bicycle and vehicle tours of 1948 battle sites on the southern front.[18]

Several aspects of the battle and its legacy remain contested. A 2018 ynet report gives 33 killed and 105 captured.[2] Globes gives 37 killed and states that all remaining defenders except three were captured.[3] Maariv reports 33 killed and 106 captured.[11] The sources do not explain the discrepancies. The main assault is also dated either to June 6–7 or to June 7 alone, depending on the account.[1][12]

The question of why reinforcements never reached Nitzanim has been disputed. Yitzhak Pundak alleged that the failure to provide support reflected political considerations — specifically, that Nitzanim belonged to the "Youth of Zion" movement while senior Givati officers belonged to Hashomer Hatzair — and that four 62-millimeter guns and a 120-millimeter mortar battery available to the brigade were not used to assist the settlement. Pundak presented the failure to send those resources as a deliberate political choice rather than a logistical impossibility.[19] These remain his attributed allegations, not the findings of the 1949 inquiry, which cleared Givati's commanders of political bias.[1]

Kovner's condemnation and its aftermath remain central to the battle's contested memory. Later inquiries rehabilitated the defenders' reputation, but Kovner did not retract his accusations, and the survivors refused his later attempt at reconciliation.[4][11]