Ex-soldier fought off Hamas and saved kibbutz neighbours

One of the first Israeli settlements to come under attack when Hamas militants surged into Israel early on Saturday morning was the Nir Am kibbutz, where local people put up a fierce defence and drove the attackers away.

"I took my pistol, my clothes, my bulletproof vest and the other thing was cigarettes," Adam says, calmly recounting being jolted from his bed by the sound of gunfire at 06:30 on Saturday. "We started to kill everyone who came to the fence."

He's been labelled the hero of Nir Am, the saviour of his kibbutz, a community of around 400 people living just 2km (1.2 miles) from Gaza.

"I took the walkie-talkie and I said this line again and again: 'No-one will enter Nir Am, no-one will enter Nir Am.'"