(Dan Tri) – Hamas forces have been preparing for a large-scale attack on Israel for many months, using deceptive measures to catch the enemy off guard.
Israeli soldiers in the area of clashes with Hamas near Gaza (Photo: Reuters).
Reuters said that Hamas carried out an elaborate distraction campaign that caught Israel off guard for many months, before launching a surprise attack on October 7 against one of the most powerful armies in the Central region.
Observers said that Hamas hid the preparation process for the campaign and at the same time sent a message to the outside world that made Israel believe that Palestinian forces did not want a war.
`Hamas has used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to deceive Israel over the past several months, by giving the impression that it is not ready to fight or confront Israel. Yet it has been quietly preparing for
Israel admitted that it was caught off guard by the attack by Hamas, leading to a large-scale raid that has killed more than 1,200 Israelis so far.
Nir Dinar, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), admitted: `They deceived us. They surprised us and quickly entered from many locations, both from the air, on the ground and
Osama Hamdan, Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Reuters that the attack showed that Hamas was determined to achieve its goals `despite Israel’s strength and military capabilities`.
Distraction tactics
An Israeli military vehicle was destroyed (Photo: Reuters).
According to sources close to Hamas, to prepare for the attack, Hamas even built a settlement simulating Israel in Gaza, where they practiced landing operations and attack training.
Meanwhile, Hamas publicly sent signals to Israel that this armed force was more interested in ensuring that workers in Gaza were able to get to the other side of the boundary fence to work.
Hamas sent a message implying that it did not want to start a new war and Israel believed it.
Gaza is a narrow strip of land with 2 million people controlled by Hamas since 2007. Israel has blockaded this area for the past 16 years, making life for the people here very difficult.
Since the 2021 war with Hamas, Israel has sought ways for the people of Gaza to achieve basic economic stability.
Israel issues thousands of permits so Gazans can work in areas controlled by the Jewish State or the West Bank.
Another Israeli military spokesman said: `We believed that their coming to work and bringing money into Gaza would help stabilize the situation to some extent. We were wrong.`
A security source in Israel admitted that the country’s intelligence had been misled by Hamas.
During the past two years, Hamas has refrained from military operations against Israel, even as Islamic Jihad, another Islamist armed group based in Gaza, launched a series of attacks on the Israeli-held area.
Hamas’s restraint has even been criticized by the group’s supporters.
Another source from Israel said there was a period when the country believed that Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar was more interested in managing Gaza than attacking Jews.
At the same time, Israel is shifting its focus away from Hamas as it pushes for a deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, the source said.
In addition, Israel possesses a dense and elite intelligence network in the Middle East.
The source added that many Hamas leaders did not know about the plan to attack Israel on October 7.
Launch attack
Hamas penetrates the boundary fence in the Gaza area (Photo: Reuters).
Over the weekend, Hamas’s campaign was divided into several steps.
After paragliders landed, Hamas soldiers controlled an area where their comrades planted explosives on the boundary fence to breach it.
A commando unit attacked the Israeli army’s southern Gaza headquarters and jammed communications equipment, preventing the Israeli side from calling in commanders or reinforcements.
Sources from Israel admitted that they did not maintain the strongest force in Gaza at the time of the attack, because some soldiers were sent to the West Bank to handle clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.
`Hamas took advantage of that,` the source emphasized.