Two Gaza border kibbutzim have installed commercially available lockable, bulletproof doors in residents’ protected rooms, in the absence of any similar product developed and approved by the Home Front Command to date.
The Israel Defense Forces says the door, developed by Elidor Industries in consultation with the Home Front Command’s ballistics experts, has been approved for use in guard booths, but not for protected rooms. This is because it has not been tested for shockwaves emanating from a missile attack.
The manufacturer says the new door was designed for bullets, not for shockwaves, and can be installed in the same reinforced door frame, behind the existing door, which is approved by the Home Front Command for missile attacks and blast waves.
On October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza border and streamed into Israeli homes looking for people to murder and abduct, the blast-proof doors became a vulnerability. This was largely because they had no locks to give emergency personnel easy access in case of a missile strike.
Of the 1,200 killed on October 7, most of them civilians, some were shot dead through safe room doors as they battled with terrorists on the other side to keep the door handles in the closed position (when asked how many people had been killed this way, the IDF chose not to comment). Many others were taken hostage when terrorists managed to break through.
One of the victims was Maayan Idan, 18, of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who was helping her father Tsachi keep the door closed when Hamas bullets penetrated the door and killed her.
Nahal Oz member Oshrit Sabag, who is still in temporary rented accommodation in south central Israel with her husband and son, but who intends to return home, told The Times of Israel that the safe rooms from which people were evacuated in the aftermath of the Hamas attack had not changed since.
“What has changed is that we decided as a kibbutz to install bulletproof doors that can also be locked,” she explained. “There’s safety, and there’s feeling safe. Someone [who wishes to remain anonymous] helped the kibbutz to find donations, and the project is ongoing.”
The kibbutz began installing bulletproof doors in family homes a year ago and will soon start adding them to young residents’ houses and shelters in communal buildings, she explained.
Sabag said the installation of such doors, due to finish in six months, “helped many people decide to return.”
She continued, “I think most people on the kibbutz had no idea [before October 7] that the doors weren’t bulletproof… Even Hamas didn’t know, and that saved many lives.”
So far, NIS 2 million ($645,000) has been raised for the NIS 3.6 million ($1.16 million) project, Sabag said.
Ohad Cohen, responsible for the physical rehabilitation of Nahal Oz, said, “The state left a huge vacuum in personal safety. I had to explain that this door has not been approved for safe rooms by the Home Front Command, but that it’s the best thing we can suggest at this time.”
Over 60,000 residents of the Gaza border area were evacuated after October 7. Last summer, full rental subsidies for temporary accommodation were stopped for Kerem Shalom, Nahal Oz, and other kibbutzim close to the border. Nahal Oz unsuccessfully petitioned the High Court for a delay.
By contrast, most residents of the five worst-hit kibbutzim are still in temporary housing — Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Holit, and Kissufim. With summer 2026, the earliest return date for Kibbutz Kissufim, residents are waiting for the army to issue standards on new safe room doors, as well as reinforced steel window shutters, and, where relevant, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear filtration and ventilation systems, which are routinely fitted in newer protected spaces.
An IDF spokeswoman confirmed that the Home Front Command’s research department was examining new doors for protected spaces in new and existing shelters.
Kibbutz Nir Oz chairman Tzvika (Tzviki) Tessler said the kibbutz would not install any door that did not meet official standards. The same position was echoed by a spokesman for Kibbutz Kissufim.
Adir Rom, Deputy CEO of Elidor Industries in northern Israel, said his company had decided to develop a range of bulletproof doors in the wake of October 7.
The most popular, he explained, meets the BR6 ballistic protection standard, guarding against bullets from rifles such as M-16s and AK-47s.
He said the new lockable door was produced with internal armored plates imported from Sweden and the US, and tested and certified by recognized ballistic laboratories both abroad and in Israel. It could be installed in any existing doorframe, wherever the customer saw fit, he added.
However, it cannot currently be installed in any newly built home, as without Home Front Command approval, installation will prevent any new residence from receiving the required Form 4 declaring that the building is habitable.
The total price per door was around NIS 17,400 ($5,600) before bulk discounts.
Rom confirmed that around 200 doors had been sold to Nahal Oz and Kerem Shalom.
Kerem Shalom is 50 meters (165 feet) from the Gaza border, while Nahal Oz is 700-850 meters (0.4 to 0.5 miles) away.
“It takes time for the Home Front Command to change the standards,” said Rom. “We are answering a particular need at a particular time.”
Rom also warned against abrasion-resistant plates, which he said were being marketed for attachment to existing blast-resistant doors at a quarter of the price of Elidor’s product. These, he warned, did not protect against light weapons.
“A door must have gone through a ballistic test and state what it protects against,” he said.
After Maayan Idan collapsed from a gunshot wound on October 7, her father Tsachi let go of the door in shock, and the terrorists entered, holding the rest of the family hostage in their home as they livestreamed their fear and horror on the Facebook account of Idan’s wife Gali, as part of their psychological terror campaign.
Tsachi Idan was then abducted to Gaza, where he was killed in captivity. His body was only returned on February 27, 2025, as part of a ceasefire deal.
Also returned that day was the body of Itzik Elgarat, 68, of Kibbutz Nir Oz, who had been shot through his safe room door and injured before being kidnapped and killed in captivity.
Oran Alfasi, 22, from Rehovot, who was visiting his girlfriend in Kibbutz Nirim, was also shot dead through the door.
Since October 7, the Home Front Command has distributed a mechanism to the local authorities along the Gaza border that can be slipped over the handle of existing protected room doors to lock them, although uptake has been patchy.
