It cannot be understated or put in less severe terms: The IDF, the strongest military in the Middle East and one of the most respected worldwide was caught completely by surprise in the Hamas attack on Israel on Saturday.
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All military intelligence estimations until the early morning hours, were that the Hamas terror group was deterred and uninterested in war spreading to Gaza. Accordingly, the IDF reduced its troop deployment in the south, moving forces to the West Bank where a terror wave has been ongoing.
The blow to Israel from Hamas, which is still not fully revealed when these words are being written, showed the terror group's rouge, beginning two weeks ago when the Gaza rulers sent demonstrators to the border with Israel. After the government approved resuming the entrance of workers from Gaza into Israel, the military thought the situation along the border had been contained. Hamas fooled the IDF into complacency.
On an operational level, Hamas copied Hezbollah's plans for attacking Israel: infiltration into residential communities along the border, murder of soldiers and civilians and their abduction back across the lines. Here the IDF did not believe that was possible. It put its faith in its expensive new border barrier that had been successful in thwarting the digging of attack tunnels until now.
The barrage of some 2,500 rockets acted as cover for the terrorists to enter through the tunnels simultaneously in numerous locations, including inside IDF bases and from there, all defenses were breached, and communities were taken hold of.
Security forces were engaged in fighting with terror squads holding Israelis hostage. The desperate calls of residents of those communities were heard on social media as they sought help from the military, which was not responding. Hours passed without word from Israel's political and military leaders. Hamas has won a major psychological battle as well and its memory would remain in perpetuity.
Such as offensive takes planning and time to prepare and professionalism to execute. But most of all it requires daring which Hamas had never before exhibited. "Such strategic courage was exhibited," one security source said. "It comes with the understanding that Israel is not as strong as it once was because of the internal rift it is experiencing and with certainty that its reactions would be limited," he said.
Yossi Yehushua But the message from the military is that the response would be severe. Reservists were being called up and forces were to be deployed not only in the south. Special attention is now placed on the northern border, amid concerns that Hezbollah may join in the fight, while on the West Bank, a high sense of alert has already been in effect.
The Israeli public will be required to understand what this author has said repeatedly over the past years: An attack across the northern border would be much worse. The events of October 7, 2023, must awaken the leadership to understand it must build a much stronger military and to do so, it would have to end its preoccupation with less important matters such as the judicial overhaul the coalition has been pushing since its inception nine months ago.