1 of 3 Image of Islamic fighters Photo: Getty Images/Via BBC Image of Islamic fighters Photo: Getty Images/Via BBC
Many Israelis were probably asleep when it all began.
It was the Sabbath, the “Saturday of Peace,” on which Jews rest after six days of work and which is considered a holy date in Judaism. The bombings also occurred hours after the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
For years, Israel has been fortifying the barrier between itself and the small Palestiniancontrolled Gaza Strip. Within hours, its impenetrability was found to be flawed.
BBC News analyzed footage shot by militants and civilians on the ground to understand how Hamas coordinated its most sophisticated attack yet from Gaza.
The video shows gunshots in the middle of the street in Israel, on the border with the Gaza Strip
Rockets marked the beginning of the attack
At around 6:30 a.m. local time, rockets began appearing in the sky.
The militant Islamic organization that controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist group in the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world often uses this tactic.
Rockets usually have difficulty evading Israel’s advanced missile defense system but thousands were fired in a short period of time to overwhelm it.
The scale suggests months of planning and inventory. Hamas says it fired 5,000 soldiers in the first round (Israel says it was half that number).
Even in Tel Aviv 60 km from Gaza and west Jerusalem, warning sirens began to sound and smoke rose above cities that had been directly hit.
As rockets continued to be fired, fighters gathered where they wanted to break through the heavily fortified Gaza barrier.
Although Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, it still controls its airspace and shares a common border and coastline.
In addition to regular military patrols around the barrier which consists of a concrete wall in some places and a fence in others there is also a network of cameras and sensors to prevent intruders.
But within a few hours the barrier was breached repeatedly.
How did Hamas get through?
Some Hamas members attempted to bypass the barrier entirely, including using paragliders (unconfirmed footage showed at least seven of them hovering over Israel) and also attempted to cross the barrier using boats washed ashore that were used by Israeli forces were repelled.
What sets this attack apart, however, are the direct and coordinated attacks at the border crossings.
At around 5:50 a.m. local time, a Telegram account linked to Hamas’ armed wing posted the first images of the scene, taken in Kerem Shalom, the southernmost point of the Gaza crossings.
These images showed militants taking control of a checkpoint and the bloodied bodies of two Israeli soldiers on the ground.
Another image showed at least five motorcycles carrying two militants armed with rifles driving through a hole in the cordon’s wire fence.
2 out of 3 militants broke through the barrier in Kerem Shalom, overcame the guards and cut the fence Photo: Social Networks/Via BBC Militants broke through the barrier in Kerem Shalom, overcame the guards and cut the fence Photo: Social Networks/Via BBC
In a less guarded section, a bulldozer was seen destroying a section of fence covered with barbed wire. Dozens of seemingly unarmed people gathered there and some began crossing the hole.
At the northernmost point of the Gaza crossings, at Erez, about 27 miles north of Kerem Shalom, Hamas launched another attack.
3 out of 3 BBC News verified images of a bulldozer destroying part of the barrier Photo: Social Networks/Via BBC BBC News verified images of a bulldozer destroying part of the barrier Photo: Social Networks/Via BBC
Images were shared on one of the group’s propaganda channels showing an explosion in the concrete barrier that served as a signal for the attack to begin.
In the footage, a militant can be seen waving at a group of fighters towards the blast site. Eight men wearing bulletproof vests and armed with rifles ran toward the heavily fortified checkpoint and fired at Israeli troops.
Then it is possible to see corpses of Israeli soldiers on the ground while the militants, clearly organized and trained, search the rooms of the complex.
Gaza has seven official border crossings, six of which are controlled by Israel, while one is controlled by Cairo, Egypt. Within hours, Hamas found ways to penetrate Israeli territory along the entire barrier.
Hamas fighters spread from Gaza in various directions.
We now learn from the Israeli authorities that they attacked 27 different locations, apparently with orders to eliminate all targets found.
The furthest point Hamas could reach was the town of Ofakim, 14 miles (22.5 km) east of Gaza.
In Sderot, militants were seen standing in the back of a pickup truck driving through the town, which is about 3 km (1.8 miles) east of Gaza.
About a dozen armed fighters were seen scattering through the empty streets of Ashkelon, north of the overrun Erez border crossing.
Similar scenes repeated across Israel’s southern region, with forces urging civilians to seek shelter indoors.
At the music festival near Re’im, gunmen opened fire on a large group of young people gathered in the desert.
A witness told the BBC how the militants drove a van loaded with weapons and spent three hours looking for other Israelis to attack.
Soldiers and civilians taken hostage
Hostages were captured by Hamas at the festival and elsewhere and brought back to Gaza. According to Israel, 100 people soldiers and civilians were kidnapped.
Footage taken in the city of Be’ri and confirmed by the BBC shows around four civilians being forcibly taken away by militants.
Several videos of Israelis, some seriously injured, shown on the busy streets of Gaza were circulating on the Internet.
Other unconfirmed atrocities too graphic to publish were captured on video, including a driver being dragged from his car and his throat slit and the bodies of dead civilians and soldiers being desecrated.
In addition to attacks on Israeli communities, Hamas also attacked two military sites: a base in Zikim and another in Re’im.
Images taken near Re’im show the consequences: several burnedout cars lie scattered on the road to the base. It is unclear how many people were killed in the fighting.
Images of dead Israeli soldiers were repeatedly shared on Hamas social media channels. BBC News has not verified these images.
Just hours after the rocket fire began, hundreds of Israelis died in ways no one would have thought possible.
Aid arrived in the affected southern region within hours, but for a time Hamas effectively controlled parts of the territory outside the Gaza Strip.
The speed and lethality of the surprise attack shocked Israel. The question of how this was possible will be asked for years to come.
By midmorning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “We are at war.”