Israel is meant to have a highly sophisticated network of spies. When Hamas smashed through the fence, they were caught by surprise
By Rebecca Armitage with Nick Dole, Orly Halpern and Mitch Woolnough in Israel
Hamas fighters stormed into Israel by land, air and sea.(AP: Hassan Eslaiah, File)
It was before dawn on Saturday morning, and most Israelis were asleep, confident they were being kept safe by the country’s extensive military and intelligence apparatus.
But then came an attack that changed everything.
First, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel, sending terrified citizens into bomb shelters and safe rooms.
The rocket fire, though, was a cover for an assault far more audacious in its scope.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters stormed into the country by land, air and sea, breaching Gaza’s fences with bulldozers and wire cutters.
Some entered the country on motorcycles, while at least one Hamas soldier was spotted sailing into Israel by motorised paraglider.
The attack on Israel caught many citizens, as well as the country’s military and intelligence community, by surprise. (AP: Tsafrir Abayov,)
Images on social media show people fleeing for their lives, running through fields to escape the spray of bullets.
Israel’s military says a “significant number” of citizens and soldiers were kidnapped during the brazen attack.
Most were taken back to the Gaza Strip, where they’re likely being held hostage underground.
Hamas militants pushed into southern Israel, taking some people hostage and reportedly killing others. (AP: Tsafrir Abayov )
The brazen attack has left at least 600 Israelis dead, while at least 370 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed in retaliatory air strikes.
Israel’s Security Cabinet has officially approved a declaration of war, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning citizens that they must prepare for a long and difficult conflict.
Israel, with its strong military and sophisticated intelligence networks, was caught off guard.(AP: Hassan Eslaiah, file)
But Hamas’s multifaceted operation, which appears to have been planned in secret and relied heavily on the element of surprise, has left many Israelis wondering how this could happen.
Israel has one of the strongest militaries and most sophisticated intelligence networks in the world.
And yet, somehow, no-one saw this coming.
“Israel prides itself on having exquisite intelligence collection capabilities, both in terms of human sources, but also technical capabilities,” said Colin P Clarke, the director of research at the Soufan Group.
“[It’s] hard to argue there wasn’t a breakdown somewhere in the system. This is an intelligence failure with massive consequences.”
‘Where were they? That’s the big question’
At police stations in Israel, people with missing loved ones have come forward to give DNA samples, in case their bodies are found.
Inbal Albini’s brother and father are missing, and she left a DNA sample with police to help with the search. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough )
Inbal Albini’s father, Haim, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas militants.
Her brother Daniel is missing too. He was last seen sheltering in a fortified safe room.
From speaking to other members of the kibbutz, she has pieced together some of what occurred.
“They started running from house to house, breaking in and shooting people inside their houses or taking them hostage,” she told the ABC.
She said the gunmen somehow managed to get into her father’s safe room.
“They told him in English, ‘don’t resist us [and] we will not kill you’,” she said.
They left his wife behind, but Ms Albini believed the militants may have taken 30 or 40 other members of the kibbutz, including women and children.
Families are going to police stations in Israel, hoping to find answers about their missing loved ones. (ABC News: Mitch Woolnough )
She says she can’t understand why the Israeli military took so long to respond.
“Where were they? That’s the big question,” she said.
“They left all the people in the kibbutzim all alone for hours … while the terrorists are running around, shooting people, burning houses, kidnapping people.”
While she’s angry about what has happened to her father and brother, she doesn’t want Israel’s bombing of Gaza to harm civilians.
“The first thing that comes into my mind is, yeah, bomb them, kill them. But … that’s not how my father raised us,” she said.
“Hamas, they are terrorists. It’s not the people of Gaza. I feel really sad about the people of Gaza.”
The audacious assault planned in plain sight
Just 41 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide, the Gaza Strip is one of the most heavily surveilled places in the world.
The so-called “smart fence” that separates it from Israel is kitted out with motion sensors and cameras, and is subject to regular army patrols.
A maritime barrier guarding Gaza’s seacoast consists of concrete slabs and metal rods as well as sensors and an alarm system.
No-one can get in or out of Gaza without passing through heavily armed military checkpoints.
And within this narrow strip of hemmed-in land, it’s believed Israeli intelligence agencies have recruited a network of informants who report on the activities of armed groups.
A combination of old-fashioned espionage and high-tech surveillance was meant to keep Israelis safe.
Palestinian militants broke through the Israel-Gaza border fence in an audacious assault.(Reuters: Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa)
But despite what many Israelis assumed was a highly sophisticated effort to identify and crush threats before they appeared, all the systems seemed to fail.
Hamas militants spent what appears to have been months planning this stunning operation with no leaks.
They quietly stockpiled and then launched a huge cache of rockets, and then bulldozed their way through the smart fence.
“They’ve been planning this for a long time,” former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata told Reuters.
“Obviously this is a very coordinated attack, and unfortunately they were able to surprise us tactically and cause devastating damage.”
‘This is a true doomsday scenario’
Israel’s intelligence community is made up of three separate agencies.
Shin Bet is tasked with internal security and counterespionage, while Mossad is responsible for foreign intelligence and Aman handles military matters.
But in recent months, Israel’s intelligence apparatus concluded that Hamas was not currently a major threat.
The Israeli military described the Gaza Strip as being in a state of “stable instability” during a briefing in September.
“Israel thought the Gaza Strip was not the danger zone at the moment,” Natan Sachs, who is director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, told NPR.
“It was focusing on the West Bank. And clearly, that was wrong. In many ways, this is a true doomsday scenario for Israeli intelligence.”
The attack comes at a time of great internal discord within Israel.
The country has been gripped by regular protests by citizens opposed to Mr Netanyahu’s efforts to overhaul the judicial system.
“[The discord] has clearly distracted Israeli intelligence,” Ian Bremmer, the head of the Eurasia Group told CNBC.
“It’s also distracted the Israeli military.”
For many Israelis, the sneak attack by Hamas was a recurring nightmare.
Almost exactly 50 years ago, the country was again caught off-guard by a surprise attack, launched from the south by Egypt and from the north by Syria.
The assault occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, when radio and TV broadcasts are silenced, shops are shut, and most Israelis pray and reflect.
Known by many as the Yom Kippur war, the 19-day conflict traumatised a nation and ushered in a new era of relations in the Middle East.
Now, many Israelis are wondering how the nation’s military and intelligence services failed to learn the lessons of the war in 1973.
“This is Israel’s 9/11,” Marc Polymeropoulous, a former CIA agent and intelligence expert.
“Not since 1973 has there been such a catastrophic intelligence failure in Israel. It is almost inconceivable how they missed this.”
Israelis and Palestinians alike are now braced for the devastating fallout.
Israel is in the grip of a complex hostage crisis, with dozens of its citizens held in Gaza, waiting to be rescued.
A ground assault on the Gaza Strip now looks likely. (Reuters: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
And a large-scale ground and aerial assault on the Gaza Strip — the first since 2014 — now appears likely.
Maher Saeed Elyan, a Palestinian man in Gaza, told the ABC he was bracing for whatever comes next.
“Last night was extremely difficult, filled with tension and fear for children and women, and we couldn’t sleep,” he said.
“The feeling was one of terror, and fear that was unbearable. Both children and adults were feeling afraid.”
