The Israeli army officially acknowledges the failure of Operation October 7.
According to the Palestinian Information Center, the Israeli army officially admitted its failure on October 7 in defending the settlers in the neighboring areas of Gaza in a statement, adding that Hamas was able to defeat the Gaza unit’s attack in the early hours.
The occupying army continued its statement by adding, “Despite all the successes achieved in the war, the failure of October 7 cannot be denied. Israeli political and military officials believed that Gaza was a marginal enemy and that a deterrent had been created against the Hamas movement and that this group was considered a limited threat, but on the morning of October 7, all these approaches were destroyed. The losses inflicted on us on October 7 were unpredictable in terms of the number of dead and wounded.”
The statement emphasizes: “Intelligence investigations show that there is a large difference between our assessments and the actual situation. We had great confidence in the capabilities of the security wall on the borders of Gaza. It became clear to us in this war that the enemy’s ability to fight on several fronts was much more advanced than we had imagined.” The security agencies were completely defeated on the night of October 7.
The Israeli army admitted: One of the biggest surprises of the army air force was the use of Hamas paragliders to target our forces in areas adjacent to Gaza, which was not previously foreseen by the army commanders. The difficulties in presenting a correct picture of the field situation have affected the decision-making of the army officers and headquarters. On October 7, Hamas carried out one of the largest deception operations so that the security agencies of the world will examine their action, and the Israeli perception of Gaza is completely different from the reality.
The statement continued to emphasize: The Israeli army received contradictory information on the night of October 7, indicating new developments in Gaza, but other information indicated that the situation in Gaza was normal. The Hamas attack on the headquarters of the Gaza unit and its destruction added to the difficulty of obtaining a clear picture of the situation. Before the October 7 attack, the military commanders had predicted a ground attack from 8 border points, but this attack was carried out from more than 60 points. The counterattack on October 7 began in the afternoon of that day.
The occupying army noted: “Our information indicates that Sinwar began planning the October 7 attack in 2017. On October 7, Hamas forces targeted support forces and senior officers and disrupted the command and control structure. The lack of simultaneous entry of Hezbollah and Hamas into the war was due to a lack of coordination between them.”
In another part of the statement, it was acknowledged: On October 7, the concept of conflict management and defense against the enemy at the line of contact was destroyed. Hamas had planned to attack areas adjacent to Gaza on Passover in 2023, but this attack was delayed to increase the readiness of elite forces. The army air force did not have a contingency plan for a ground attack scenario. About 5,600 militants entered Israel in three waves on October 7, and in the first three days of the attack, 4,694 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, 3,803 of which were on the first day alone. Hamas surprised the air force by flying its forces into Israel using paragliders.
The occupying army statement stressed: “The liberation of Palestine is Hamas’s primary goal and the movement considers this goal achievable.” Israel had been convinced that Hamas was preoccupied with its responsibilities for administering the affairs of civilians living in Gaza, while the organization had long been planning this surprise attack aimed at ending the conflict with Israel.