These ten gunmen from Gaza knew exactly how to locate and penetrate the Israeli intelligence center. After crossing the border into Israel, the group rode east on five motorcycles, each carrying two gunmen, shooting at civilian cars that crossed their path.
Ten miles later, members of the terrorist group Hamas left the road, entered a wooded area and stopped at the gate of an unguarded military base. They destroyed the barrier with a small explosive charge, entered the base, and even stopped to take a group selfie. They then shot and killed an unarmed Israeli soldier who was wearing a Tshirt.
For a moment the attackers seemed unsure about what to do next. Then one of them pulled something out of his pocket: a map of the military complex, organized with a color code.
After finding their way, they found an unlocked door to a fortified building. Once inside, the group entered a room full of computers, the center of military intelligence. The snipers killed two soldiers who were hiding under a bed in the room.
This sequence of events was captured by a camera attached to the helmet of one of the shooters, who was later killed. The New York Times analyzed the video and later confirmed the veracity of the events through interviews with Israeli officials and by reviewing footage shot by the military.
The footage provides shocking details of how Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, managed to surprise and defeat the Middle East’s strongest military three weeks ago by crossing the border into more than 77,000 acres of territory Square kilometers invaded, taking more than 220 hostages and killing more than 1,400 people in a single day, the deadliest in Israel’s 75year history.
With careful planning and extraordinary knowledge of Israel’s secrets and weaknesses, Hamas and its allies dominated the entire length of the Gaza border shortly after dawn, shocking a nation that had long blindly trusted in the superiority of its military.
Hamas used drones to destroy key surveillance and communications towers along the Gaza border, creating large blind spots for Israeli forces. Using explosives and tractors, the organization opened gaps in the border barricades, allowing 200 attackers in the first wave and another 1,800 later in the day to cross, according to authorities. The attackers entered Israel on motorcycles and pickup trucks, took control of at least eight military bases and carried out terrorist attacks against civilians in more than 15 villages and towns.
Hamas planning documents, videos documenting the attack and interviews with security officials show that the group had surprisingly detailed knowledge of how the Israeli army operated, where it stationed certain units and even the response time for sending weapons. Reinforcements.
The Israeli military claims that once the conflict ends, it will begin investigating how Hamas managed to breach its defenses so easily.
Disturbing revelations
But whether the military was negligent about its secrets or was infiltrated by spies, the revelations have already worried officials and analysts, who have questioned how the Israeli military — known for the excellence of its intelligence — could inadvertently leak so much information about the operations itself .
The result of this leak was a shocking series of atrocities and massacres that Israeli President Isaac Herzog described as the worst mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.
This shattered Israel’s aura of invincibility and provoked an Israeli counterattack in Gaza that killed more than 1,900 Palestinians in a week, an atrocity never before seen in the territory.
Additionally, it refuted the notion that Hamas, long designated a terrorist group by Israel and many Western nations, was gradually becoming more interested in administering the Gaza Strip than using it for major attacks against Israel.
Hamas made Israelis believe it was “busy with the government of Gaza,” Hamas leader Ali Barakeh said in a television interview, adding: “Hamas has been preparing for this major attack under the covers all along.”
“Capture soldiers and civilians”
Along the entire border, Hamas snipers had already overrun most, if not all, Israeli border bases.
Footage from cameras mounted on the attackers’ helmets, including videos of the attack on the intelligence center, showed snipers from Hamas’ highly trained Nukhba Brigade breaking through the barricades of several bases just at dawn.
After entering the facility, they acted mercilessly and killed some soldiers in bed who were still dressed in their underwear. At several bases, they demonstrated precise knowledge of the location of communications servers and neutralized them, according to a highranking Israeli army officer.
With many of their communications and surveillance systems inoperable, the Israelis often could not see incoming troops, complicating their attempts to call for help and respond. In many cases they were unable to protect themselves, and the same was true of neighboring civilian communities.
Battle plans
A Hamas strategy document discovered by Israeli rescuers in a village revealed that the attackers were heavily organized into different units, with clear objectives and welldefined battle plans.
One platoon consisted of navigators, saboteurs and drivers, while mortar units remained in the background to provide cover for the attackers, the document shows.
The group specifically targeted a kibbutz, and each attacker had instructions to enter the village from a specific angle. They had estimates of the size of Israeli troops at nearby posts, the availability of vehicles and the time it would take Israeli aid workers to reach them.
The document is dated October 2022, suggesting the attack was planned for at least a year.
According to four senior officers and officials, other members of the group were strategically positioned at key road intersections, waiting for the opportunity to attack Israeli reinforcements.
Some units had specific instructions for capturing Israeli citizens with the aim of using them as bargaining chips in future prisoner negotiations with Israel.
The document contained direct instructions: “Capture soldiers and civilians as prisoners and hostages for the purpose of negotiations.”