Shortly earlier than attackers from Gaza poured into Israel at daybreak on Saturday, Israeli intelligence detected a surge in exercise on a few of the Gazan militant networks it displays. Realizing one thing uncommon was occurring, they despatched an alert to the Israeli troopers guarding the Gazan border, in line with two senior Israeli safety officers.
However the warning wasn’t acted upon, both as a result of the troopers didn’t get it or the troopers didn’t learn it.
Shortly afterward, Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, despatched drones to disable a few of the Israeli navy’s mobile communications stations and surveillance towers alongside the border, stopping the obligation officers from monitoring the realm remotely with video cameras. The drones additionally destroyed remote-controlled machine weapons that Israel had put in on its border fortifications, eradicating a key technique of combating a floor assault.
That made it simpler for Hamas assailants to strategy and blow up elements of the border fence and bulldoze it in a number of locations with shocking ease, permitting 1000’s of Palestinians to stroll by means of the gaps.
These operational failures and weaknesses have been amongst a wide selection of logistical and intelligence lapses by the Israeli safety companies that paved the way in which for the Gazan incursion into southern Israel, in line with 4 senior Israeli safety officers who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a way to talk about a delicate matter and their early evaluation of what went flawed.
The brazen infiltration of greater than 20 Israeli cities and military bases in that raid was the worst breach of Israel’s defenses in 50 years and shattered the nation’s sense of safety. For hours, the strongest navy within the Center East was rendered powerless to struggle again towards a far weaker enemy, leaving villages defenseless for many of the day towards squads of attackers who killed greater than 900 Israelis, together with troopers of their underwear; kidnapped at the very least 150 individuals; overran at the very least 4 navy camps; and unfold out throughout greater than 30 sq. miles of Israeli territory.
The 4 officers mentioned the success of the assault, based mostly on their early evaluation, was rooted in a slew of safety failures by Israel’s intelligence group and navy, together with:
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And a willingness to simply accept at face worth assertions by Gazan navy leaders, made on personal channels that the Palestinians knew have been being monitored by Israel, that they weren’t getting ready for battle.
“We spend billions and billions on gathering intelligence on Hamas,” mentioned Yoel Guzansky, a former senior official at Israel’s Nationwide Safety Council. “Then, in a second,” he added, “all the things collapsed like dominoes.”
The primary failure took root months earlier than the assault, as Israeli safety chiefs made incorrect assumptions in regards to the extent of the menace that Hamas posed to Israel from Gaza.
Hamas stayed out of two fights prior to now yr, permitting Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group in Gaza, to tackle Israel alone. Final month, Hamas management additionally ended a interval of rioting alongside the border, in an settlement brokered by Qatar, giving the impression that they weren’t searching for an escalation.
“Hamas may be very, very restrained and understands the implications of additional defiance,” mentioned Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s nationwide safety adviser, in a radio interview six days earlier than the assault.
When Israeli intelligence officers briefed senior safety chiefs final week about essentially the most pressing threats to the nation’s defenses, they targeted on the hazards posed by Lebanese militants alongside Israel’s northern border.
The problem posed by Hamas was barely talked about.
Hamas is deterred, the briefers mentioned, in line with one of many safety officers.
In calls, Hamas operatives, who talked to one another when tapped by Israeli intelligence brokers, additionally gave the sense that they sought to keep away from one other conflict with Israel so quickly after a harmful two-week battle in Might 2021, in line with two of the Israeli officers. Israeli intelligence, they mentioned, is now trying into whether or not these calls have been actual or staged.
The subsequent failure was operational.
Two of the officers mentioned that the Israeli border surveillance system was virtually completely reliant on cameras, sensors and machine weapons which can be operated remotely.
Israeli commanders had grown overly assured within the system’s impregnability. They thought that the mix of distant surveillance and arms, obstacles above floor and a subterranean wall to dam Hamas from digging tunnels into Israel made mass infiltration unlikely, lowering the necessity for important numbers of troopers to be bodily stationed alongside border line itself.
With the system in place, the navy began lowering the variety of troops there, shifting them to different areas of concern, together with the West Financial institution, in line with Israel Ziv, a retired main normal who commanded floor forces within the south for a few years, served as the top of the I.D.F.’s Operations Division from 2003 to 2005, and was not too long ago recruited into the reserves once more due to the conflict.
“The thinning of the forces appeared affordable due to the development of the fence and the aura they created round it, as if it have been invincible, that nothing would be capable to go it,” he mentioned.
However the remote-control system had a vulnerability: It is also destroyed remotely.
Hamas took benefit of that weak spot by sending aerial drones to assault the mobile towers that transmitted indicators to and from the surveillance system, in line with the officers and in addition drone footage circulated by Hamas on Saturday and analyzed by The New York Instances.
With out mobile indicators, the system was ineffective. Troopers stationed in management rooms behind the entrance strains didn’t obtain alarms that the fence separating Gaza and Israel had been breached, and couldn’t watch video displaying them the place the Hamas attackers have been bulldozing the barricades. As well as, the barrier turned out to be simpler to interrupt by means of than Israeli officers had anticipated.
That allowed greater than 1,500 Gazan fighters to surge by means of practically 30 factors alongside the border, a few of them in hang-gliders that flew excessive of the barricades, and attain at the very least 4 Israeli navy bases with out being intercepted.
Pictures shared by one of many Israeli officers confirmed that scores of Israeli troopers have been then shot as they slept of their dorms. Some have been nonetheless carrying their underwear.
The second operational failure was the clustering of leaders from the military’s Gaza division in a single location alongside the border. As soon as the bottom was overrun, many of the senior officers have been killed, injured or taken hostage, in line with two of the Israeli officers.
That scenario, mixed with the communication issues attributable to the drone strikes, prevented a coordinated response. This saved anybody alongside the border from greedy the complete breadth of the assault, together with the commanders who rushed from elsewhere in Israel to launch a counterattack.
“Understanding what the image was of the completely different terrorist assaults was very tough,” mentioned Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss, an Israeli commander who helped lead the counterattack.
At one level on the bottom, the final encountered — by likelihood — a commander from one other brigade. There after which, the 2 males selected an advert hoc foundation which villages their respective items would attempt to retake.
“We determined simply between ourselves,” the final mentioned. “And that’s how we glided by, from one village to a different.”
All of this meant it was arduous, particularly within the early levels, to speak the gravity of the scenario to the navy excessive command in Tel Aviv.
Because of this, nobody there sensed the instant want for a large, speedy air cowl, at the same time as social media emerged with experiences of assaults in lots of communities. It took hours for the Air Drive to reach over a lot of the realm, regardless that it has bases simply minutes away in flying time, in line with two of the Israeli officers and survivors of the assaults.
The fallout has been catastrophic for Israel’s safety, in addition to doubtlessly damaging to its repute within the area as a dependable navy associate.
Earlier than Saturday, “Israel was an asset to many nations within the area on safety points,” Mr. Guzansky mentioned. “The picture now could be that Israel just isn’t an asset.”
The Israeli safety companies don’t dispute the dimensions of their preliminary failure. However they are saying that it will probably solely be investigated after the conflict ends.
“We’ll end this,” mentioned Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a navy spokesman, as the military tried to regain management of the communities on Saturday.
However, he mentioned, “You understand that this will probably be investigated.”
Ronen Bergman reported from Tel Aviv, and Patrick Kingsley from Jerusalem.
