2023-10-07 14:22:11
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets and infiltrating fighters into Israeli territory. For David Khalfa, co-director of the North Africa and Middle East Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, this “surprise, massive and coordinated” attack constitutes a “major failure” of the Israeli intelligence services. Interview.
Published on: 07/10/2023 – 16:22
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Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood”. This is the name of the massive attack launched on Saturday October 7 by Hamas once morest Israel from the Gaza Strip, ending a truce generally respected since the end of a five-day war between Israel and the Palestinian territory in May .
The armed wing of the Islamist movement, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, announced that it had launched more than 5,000 rockets and infiltrated fighters into Israeli territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised retaliation. “Our enemy will pay a price such as he has never known,” he said in a speech. And added: “we are at war and we will win.”
Interviewed by France 24, David Khalfa, co-director of the North Africa and Middle East Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, believes that this attack highlights a certain unpreparedness of the Israeli intelligence services. Interview.
France 24: To what extent is this attack on Israel unprecedented?
It is an attack unprecedented in both its scale and sophistication. Since the Yom Kippur War [conflit opposant Israël à une coalition militaire arabe menée par l’Égypte et la Syrie en 1973, NDLR], Israel has never faced this type of attack with a real ground invasion. Hamas commando forces operate deep within Israeli territory, with the modus operandi of an army. They are seasoned special forces, trained and equipped with modern tactical means, and who lead battles that take place in several locations simultaneously.
We are talking regarding seven to eight pick-up trucks, made up of around seven to eight Islamist Hamas militiamen each, who patrol the streets of towns and villages in southern Israel, who have killed civilians at point blank range, who have taken hostage entire families with women and children. We are in a completely new configuration.
It is a surprise, massive and coordinated attack. It involves a level of intelligence preparation on the Hamas side and probably logistical support as well, once morest the backdrop of the strengthening of ties between Hamas, Islamic Jihad on the one hand and Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran on the other. other, which explain quite broadly what is happening.
Also read: In pictures: scenes of war and chaos following Hamas’ major attack on Israel
How did Israeli intelligence not see this coming?
This is a major failure of the Israeli intelligence services. It is a bankruptcy that might even be described as historic, and which might be, without exaggeration, compared to that of 1973. Israel is a country which is in a state of permanent alert, which is on a war footing, who is on the alert. However, today, we see a certain degree of unpreparedness, probably an error in the analysis and estimation of the Israeli intelligence services. This is probably also an error in the preparation of Israeli special forces.
We clearly feel that the Israeli army itself is in a state of astonishment, because it is in the fog of war. The success of the Hamas operation relies on the element of surprise and also on joint maneuvers. The operation is three-dimensional: air, sea, land. This is what undoubtedly surprised the Israelis.
Israel is also a country that relies on its technology to anticipate threats and neutralize them in advance. Except that today’s events demonstrate that there is both a problem of anticipation, and possibly a problem of analyzing the level of the threat. The scenario that had been envisaged by the Israeli services was rather that of an invasion from the north, that is to say via Hezbollah in South Lebanon. But today, they were caught from behind.
Why is the Hamas operation happening now?
This terrorist operation comes at a precise moment in the history of Israel which is faced with an unprecedented political-institutional but also identity crisis, with very large-scale polarization and fracturing of society. This national crisis has shaken the country for several months now, with weekly demonstrations. Hamas has made no secret of its desire to take advantage of Israel’s apparent vulnerability to carry out this type of attack.
Furthermore, there is an anniversary date, that of the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Today is precisely the anniversary on the Hebrew date of the Yom Kippur War which was precisely a war of invasion with an effect of surprise of the allied Arab armies. So there is a very clear desire on the part of Hamas to follow suit on a symbolic and communicational level, with a desire to strike hard and quickly. The Israelis are truly in shock and in a state of astonishment.
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