Dozens of terrorists, wearing Israeli military uniforms, penetrated into the “Sufa” army post on Saturday, October 7, 2023. Under attack, the Nahal soldiers there barricaded themselves in the dining hall. When the commander of the Caracal Battalion, Lt. Col. Orr Ben Yehuda, was rushed to the site, the terrorists were already in control of the post, intelligence data was only partial, and firing was heavy.
First, she distributed her forces around the post. They totaled only 12 men and women, but together they eliminated every terrorist who came in range. However, in order to free the barricaded soldiers, they needed to force their way in. That battle lasted 14 hours. Terrorists fired at them from the guard positions and from behind the pillbox, but the Caracal fighters, with determination and solidarity — and with air support from the Israel Air Force — beat back the hostile forces, cleared the terrorists from the post, and freed the barricaded soldiers.
Orr had fought courageously to preserve the lives of her troops and of the soldiers locked inside the post. Throughout the hours of battle, and even under attack from dozens of terrorists, she inspired her troops with confidence that they would succeed in halting the attack — even when, during the fighting, she heard that in the battle at Kibbutz Be’eri that same day, her deputy, Maj. Avi Hobelashvili, had fallen. He was 26 years old.
Lt. Col. Orr Ben Yehuda was the first female cadet in the Gefen Battalion and the first female squadron commander in the Lahav program for combat cadets at the Officers Training Camp. In 2015 she was decorated by the Commander of the Southern Command and received the Chief of General Staff’s citation for excellence after foiling the incursion of a terrorist squad at the Israeli–Egyptian border.
