General admits: Wounded soldiers were prioritized over civilians on October 7th

During the battles in southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, the evacuation of wounded soldiers was prioritized over the evacuation of civilians, Channel 12 revealed on Sunday in a report.

According to the report, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Mickey Edelstein, who is charged with investigating the failures of the tragedy, informed Gaza envelope residents of several central operational failures, including the evacuation of wounded soldiers before civilians.

Edelstein spoke to residents of Kibbutz Netiv Ha'asara who wondered about the evacuation of the wounded. "Regarding the evacuation issue, there were places where things were done incorrectly, they evacuated IDF soldiers first. This also happened, and they didn't make an order. All of these things are being discussed in the investigations, I can say that they did evacuate a lot of civilians, but there were places where it was not done properly."

The residents asked if the local security response teams would be equipped with advanced weaponry following the massacre. Edelstein answered: "Regarding the issue of advanced weaponry for the response teams, there are currently things that we need to complete, among other things, the squad weapon at the moment will be an FN MAG machine gun. We don't see it right to arm the teams with antitank missiles, and in your case, it would also be less helpful, we are thinking of giving you equipment that is more relevant for this type of combat such as grenade launchers or stuff like that.

"You are hurt, justly, both personally and emotionally, by October 7th," he told the residents. "I can not ignore things that people who want weapons at home say, but do I think that everyone should have a gun at home? The answer is no. We are arming in the manner that we see as correct and by the place that people are in mentally - people who want to come back with a weapon because they want to feel like they can defend themselves - that has nothing to do with the threat level."