At the morning of the attack, Brig. Gen. (res) Oren and his soldier son headed for the Gaza Division. All along the way, they met with gunfire from terrorists — near Alumim, Be’eri, and Re’im. Close to the nature party site at Re’im, he realized that there were many wounded and terrified civilians, and he began directing survivors toward a safe escape route while he and his son, with their pistols, fought against the terrorists.
When a tank arrived, he instructed it, by way of the Division, to move back toward the terrorists. But later, when they reached the spot themselves, they saw that the soldier in the tank had been killed. Brig. Gen. Solomon took a machine gun from the tank, and from behind the tank he fought the terrorists while dozens of young people from the party huddled behind him. He called for reinforcement troops from the Division, but none arrived although an attack helicopter did manage to rout the terrorists for a while. With many of the civilians injured, and time running out, the terrorists resumed their attack from all directions. Even when an IDF force arrived, its success in repelling the terrorists was brief. Only after 4 p.m. was the IDF able to evacuate the wounded together with Solomon. Today Brig. Gen. Solomon is still on active duty with the reserves.
