The outstanding element within the Hamas motion’s navy offensive in opposition to Israel on Saturday is the component of shock that shook Tel Aviv.
The assault has prompted Israeli analysts to opine that what occurred was extra than simply an “intelligence collapse.”
Hamas launched its operation early Saturday, an official vacation in Israel, with no prior indicators hinting a preparations for a large-scale offensive.
The resistance initiated its operation by launching a barrage of rockets towards central and southern Israel earlier than fighters infiltrated cities surrounding the Gaza Strip.
The operation brings to thoughts the 1973 October War. Hamas’s Saturday operation additionally coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of that struggle when Egypt and Syria stunned the Israeli military with a navy transfer on Yom Kippur, additionally an official vacation in Israel.
In a uncommon transfer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that Hamas’ actions stunned Israel.
“Hamas launched a sudden deadly attack against the State of Israel and its citizens,” he stated in an announcement.
For a number of hours, Israel was making an attempt to grasp the dimensions of the offensive – whether or not it was the two,200 missiles touchdown in West Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv space, or the infiltration of not less than seven Israeli websites across the Gaza Strip.
“Apparently, despite some initial indications, the defense establishment was surprised by the Hamas attack,” the Hebrew Maariv news reported.
Intelligence failure
“Israeli intelligence had apparently detected some signs of a Hamas operation over the weekend,” it stated. “However, it did not take it seriously as it did not relate it to a broader, more disturbing picture.”
The newspaper thought of what occurred a “major intelligence failure.”
The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper described what occurred as a “sudden Hamas attack.”
It thought of “the Hamas attack a failure of the government.”
“The long-standing contempt for imaginary ‘terrorist’ organizations turned this morning into a nightmare and a shock that will haunt Israelis for a long time,” stated Yedioth Ahronoth.
The newspaper famous that the assault was carried out 50 years after the 1973 October struggle.
“The world was surprised this morning by Hamas’ double attack on Israel,” it stated, describing it as a “major intelligence failure.”
“Israel is in the midst of a difficult war with unpredictable characteristics,” navy analyst Avi Benayahu informed the Maariv newspaper.
He famous that “the intelligence failure is dangerous, and the challenge is now greater.”
“The idea of increasing Hamas’s economic interests turned out to be wrong,” he stated, including that “the wall that Israel built with billions of shekels collapsed.”
“For hours, I have been staring into the screen, grinding my teeth and rubbing my eyes in astonishment, because there has never been anything like this in the history of Israel,” stated Benayahu.
“With the kidnapped people – soldiers and civilians – inside Gaza, we can expect a long, difficult and nerve-wracking period with harsh images.”
David Horovitz, a author for the Times of Israel newspaper, thought of what occurred “a colossal failure.”
“Much of Israel was awakened on Saturday morning to scarcely conceivable scenes and sounds of rocket attacks, and parts of southern Israel to gunfire, with the accompanying unthinkable news that dozens of terrorists had infiltrated from Gaza,” he stated.
He added that “precisely 50 years after the Yom Kippur War, Israel was under surprise attack – not by Arab armies, but by the Hamas terrorist group. And with Israeli civilians widely and directly targeted.”
“Even as Israel’s political chiefs began to convene in emergency consultations, with the full extent of the infiltration and its consequences still unfolding, Hebrew media began quoting unnamed officials castigating the political and military echelons for the fact that Israel, preoccupied with internal argument, had again been taken by surprise,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com