Noam Tibon

Noam Tibon, born in 1962 at kibbutz Tzora, served in the IDF from 1981 to 2015 and rose to the rank of major general, commanding the 202nd Paratroop Battalion, the Nahal Brigade, the Judea and Samaria Division and finally the Northern Corps on the Lebanese border. On the morning of the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023 he and his wife drove south from Tel Aviv towards kibbutz Nahal Oz, where his son Amir and his family were locked in their safe room. Along the way he joined the fighting, took the weapon of a fallen Maglan officer, evacuated wounded soldiers and helped survivors fleeing the Nova festival, before reaching the kibbutz with a special forces unit. He found his son's family alive roughly ten hours after the attack began, and has since spoken publicly about the failures of that day.