Jerusalem [Israel], February 28 (ANI/TPS): "The Israel Defense Forces failed to protect Israeli citizens. The Gaza Division was overrun in the early hours of the war as terrorists took control and carried out massacres in the communities and roads of the area," was the general conclusion.
An official presented the basic summary of the report on what went wrong during and after the October 7 attacks, which were not dealt with immediately and resulted in more than 1200 Israelis dead, hundreds taken hostage, and sparked an all-out war on Gaza.
The basic conclusion seems to be that it all happened because of miscalculation of Hamas's military capabilities. "October 7 was a complete failure," a senior Israeli military official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military rules. He added that "too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where the IDF was".
The official stressed that the army had been "overconfident" and had miscalculated Hamas' capabilities before the attack.
The investigation, which consists of 77 separate investigations into each of the affected areas, as well as the attacks on army bases and the various points of confrontation around Gaza, will be presented to those who were directly affected on that day.
"We did not even imagine such a scenario," the army official said, explaining that Israel's attention was focused on threats from Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the report, Hamas's attack came in three waves, with more than 5,000 people crossing into Israel from Gaza.
"The first wave ... included more than 1,000 Nukhba (Hamas's elite force) terrorists who infiltrated under cover of heavy fire," the report points out. The second wave involved some 2,000 militants, while the third saw hundreds more militants join the incursion with several thousand civilians.
The official said the first hours of the attack saw the most killings and kidnappings. It was then, he explained, then Hamas's elite unit crippled the military's communications system and command and control centers, creating chaos as the army struggled to regain control.
What was presented today was only "a slice of the whole process," the official explained, adding that more investigations, including one into the massacre at the Nova music festival, are expected to come. (ANI/TPS)
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