The Israeli authorities had decided that the loosely organized civilian guard, generally known as Kitat Konnenut, would function the primary line of protection within the cities and villages close to the border. However the guardsmen had totally different requirements of coaching relying on who was in cost. For years, they warned that a few of their models had been poorly skilled and underequipped, based on two Israeli army officers with direct information of the volunteer groups.
Moreover, the Israeli army reservists weren’t ready to shortly mobilize and deploy. Some described heading south on their very own initiative.
Davidi Ben Zion, 38, a serious within the reserves, mentioned reservists by no means skilled to reply at a second’s discover to an invasion. The coaching assumed that Israeli intelligence would be taught of a looming invasion prematurely, giving reservists time to organize to deploy.
“The procedure states that we have the battalion ready for combat in 24 hours,” he mentioned. “There’s a checklist to authorize the distribution of everything. We practiced this for many years.”
Hamas capitalized on these errors in ways in which additional delayed the Israeli response. Terrorists blocked key freeway intersections, leaving troopers slowed down in firefights as they tried to enter besieged cities. And the Hamas siege on the army base in southern Israel crippled the regional command publish, paralyzing the army response.
A lot stays unknown about that day, together with what orders got inside Israel’s senior army management in Tel Aviv, and when. The Occasions investigation builds on and provides new particulars to aggressive protection within the Israeli media of the army response.
Officers and reservists who headed south that morning, whether or not beneath orders or on their very own, quickly realized of the chaos that they had been coming into.
Gen. Barak Hiram, who was scheduled to quickly take over command of a division alongside the Gaza border, drove south to see firsthand how the troopers there responded to what appeared like a routine Hamas assault.
In an interview, he recalled the textual content messages he acquired from troopers he knew within the area.
“Come save us.”
“Send the army, quickly, they are killing us.”
“Sorry we’re turning to you, we’re already out of weapons.”
Unprepared for Battle
Commando models had been among the many first to mobilize that morning. Some mentioned they rushed into the combat after receiving messages pleading for assist or studying in regards to the infiltrations from social media.
Different models had been on standby and acquired formal activation orders.
The small dimension of the groups urged that commanders essentially misunderstood the risk. Troops rolled out with pistols and assault rifles, sufficient to face a band of hostage-taking terrorists, however not to enter full-scale battle.
Beforehand undisclosed paperwork reviewed by The Occasions present simply how drastically the army misinterpret the scenario. Information from early within the day present that, even throughout the assault, the army nonetheless assessed that Hamas, at finest, would be capable of breach Israel’s border fence in only a few locations. A separate intelligence doc, ready weeks later, reveals that Hamas groups truly breached the fence in additional than 30 places and shortly moved deep into southern Israel.
Hamas fighters poured into Israel with heavy machine weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, land mines and extra. They had been ready to combat for days. Israeli commandos apparently believed they might be combating for simply hours; one mentioned he set out that morning with out his night-vision goggles.
“The terrorists had a distinct tactical advantage in firepower,” mentioned Yair Ansbacher, 40, a reservist in a counterterrorism unit who fought on Oct. 7. He and his colleagues primarily used pistols, assault rifles and typically sniper rifles, he mentioned.
The scenario was so dire that at 9 a.m., the top of Shin Wager, Israel’s home safety company, issued a uncommon order. He advised all combat-trained, weapons-carrying staff to go south. Shin Wager doesn’t usually activate with the army. Ten Shin Wager operatives had been killed that day.
Making issues worse, the army has acknowledged that it moved two commando corporations — greater than 100 troopers — to the West Financial institution simply two days earlier than the assault, a mirrored image of Israel’s mistaken perception {that a} Hamas assault was not an imminent risk.
That left three infantry battalions and one tank battalion alongside Gaza’s border. However Oct. 7 was the Jewish vacation of Simchat Torah, and the Sabbath. One senior army officer estimated that about half the 1,500 troopers within the space had been away. He mentioned that one other infantry battalion had been reassigned years earlier after Israel completed constructing a safety wall round Gaza.
Whether or not Hamas knew that the army was understaffed is unclear, nevertheless it had deadly penalties. When the assaults started, many troopers had been combating for his or her lives as an alternative of defending residents close by. Hamas stormed one base, Nahal Oz, forcing troopers to desert it and depart behind useless buddies.
And simply because the civilian volunteers had warned, the primary line of protection inside Israel was shortly overwhelmed. Some models barely had sufficient weapons for an hourslong battle, officers mentioned.
Hamas additionally labored strategically to weaken Israel’s benefit in firepower. Terrorists focused Israeli tanks, hitting a number of of them, mentioned Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, the commander of the armored corps. Tanks ran out of ammunition, leaving crews to combat with floor troopers.
In one other occasion widely covered in the Israeli media, Hamas fired on an Israeli helicopter, forcing it down close to Gaza. The paratroopers escaped harm earlier than the helicopter burst into flames.
All of this could have been a transparent signal that Israel was beneath broad assault, dealing with a dire scenario.
However Hamas made one other strategic strike that morning that every one however blinded Israel’s army at a important second.
