Hamas Exploits Intelligence Failure During Israel’s Political Chaos, Resetting Long-Established Equations in the Israel-Hamas Conflict

Thousands of Israelis have been protesting in the streets against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms on a monthly basis for many months. Israeli society was so severely divided over the subject that even the country’s renowned security agencies were split, as thousands of people chose not to enlist and leaked information revealed that top Mossad personnel supported the demonstrations.

Important indications were overlooked as the security establishment became polarized and the governing coalition and the Opposition quarreled. At a time when Israeli-Palestinian tensions were at their greatest in almost a decade, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had issued a warning that the ongoing demonstrations that had engulfed the Israeli troops were having an impact on the nation’s military readiness.

Gallant’s admonition was ignored. The concerns of Gallant and the security services brass who briefed him came true on Saturday when Israel was physically attacked while it was asleep. Israelis all around the country awoke to alarms as the Palestinian organization Hamas started a ground attack and showered down hundreds of missiles on the nation.

According to the most recent statistics, there have been over 700 fatalities and more than 2,100 injuries. More than 100 captives have been seized and transported to Gaza.

“When Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that the demonstrations were jeopardizing the military’s operational readiness, his own coalition members ridiculed him, claiming he was overstating the dangers. He also participated in efforts to resolve the political situation via compromise. As a result, the demonstrations seriously diverted Israel’s Defense Minister and the administration, which resulted in this disastrous situation. According to Tel Aviv-based Israeli affairs expert Khinvraj Jangid, the nation was taken entirely by surprise.

According to Jangid, Director of the Jindal Center for Israel Studies (JCIS), OP Jindal Global University, “Hamas broke all patterns with the ongoing offensive and has set in motion a chain of events that can change the fundamental equations in the long-running Israel-Palestine issue.”

Hamas took advantage of internal conflict to surprise Israel.
The terrorist organization-designated Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel by land, air, and sea just around the time Israel was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, using an unparalleled bombardment of missiles to do it.

Attackers from Hamas tore down the border barrier with bulldozers and infiltrated Israel with motorcycles, trucks, gliders, and boats in an all-out assault that destroyed the invincibility of the Israeli national security system. After that, they terrorized Israeli villages in the southern portion of the nation near the Gaza border for hours by murdering and kidnapping people at whim.

According to Jangid, a researcher who has been in Israel for the past two years and a visiting faculty member at the southern Israeli university that has been the main battleground since Saturday, the Hamas offensive was timed well when the Israeli security deployment was minimal and most of Israel was closed on a religious holiday at the end of a sacred Jewish week. This was when most of Israel was also closed.

The majority of Israel has been closed for the last week in observance of Sukkot. In Israel, Saturdays are the calmest and quietest days. This Saturday was Shabbat, the last day of the Sukkot holiday week, so it was expected to be very quiet. The Israeli military was overstretched in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers had recently been battling with several Palestinian towns and villages, therefore there was relatively little military presence in the southern border zone. This was a pitiful inability to foresee and stop the assault,” adds Jangid.

Since Saturday, reports of individuals from southern Israel have appeared in postings on social media and on television. They claim that for many hours, there was no Israeli military presence as Hamas militants went on shooting rampages.

On Saturday, the Hamas terrorists took control of a military installation in southern Israel as well as many Israeli settlements. Even though Israeli troops recaptured a number of localities on Saturday, combat was still going on in a number of spots as of this writing. Images of Israeli tanks and other military equipment being taken and destroyed by Hamas terrorists have also circulated.

The Hamas attack has been compared to Israel’s 9/11 and Pearl Harbor events by analysts. According to Avi Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post, the terrorist strikes carried out by Al-Qaeda against the United States were considerably worse than those of 9/11.

Mayer tweeted, “When I wrote that yesterday was Israel’s 9/11, the number of Israelis killed was at 200 — the equivalent of two 9/11s,” in response to reports that the death toll was near 500. It currently exceeds 500 and continues to increase. Consider the effects 9/11 had on America and then consider what this will mean for Israel.

The number of fatalities has increased after Mayer’s remark. Over 250 people were slain at only one event—a music festival in the southern desert—and some were taken hostage and taken to Gaza.

On Sunday, the Israeli authorities acknowledged that Hamas had kidnapped more than 100 people. According to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), both terrorist organizations, there are around 130 captives. According to Jangid, the large number of captives jeopardizes any prospective Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, which was widely anticipated after Netanyahu vowed that Hamas would bear hitherto unheard-of expenses.

“The Israeli capacity for reprisal will be severely impacted once the list of Israeli prisoners is made public. Israel must communicate with Hamas. In Israel, many believe that the war has been lost. There won’t be any more fatalities, declares Jangid.

Israel has begun “Operation Swords of Iron” in response to the Hamas attack, which the organization has named “Operation Al Aqsa Storm,” and has carried out aerial and naval raids in Gaza targeting installations connected to Hamas. The Deputy Commander of the Southern Division of the Hamas Naval Force, Muhammad Abu Ghali, was arrested by Israel’s navy, according to the most recent information available at the time of writing. Israel had also targeted some 800 targets in Gaza.

There hasn’t been a land attack into Gaza yet, despite the ongoing aerial and naval onslaught and the ongoing mobilization of ground forces across Israel. However, there have been rumors that such an onslaught might start within the next 24 to 48 hours.

The “Hamas offensive” has altered the basics.
In recent years, organizations like the Lion’s Den and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have been more active than Hamas. This changed on Saturday when Hamas proved it is the most well-armed organization that is capable of causing the greatest destruction. Additionally, it has the closest ties to Iran, the longtime enemy of Israel, and both countries are dedicated to the eradication of Israel.

According to Jangid, during the last 20 years, Hamas has consistently carried out reprisal strikes, such as in reaction to a physical altercation.

Nothing similar had occurred this week, indicating that the onslaught had been planned for some time. Even while Hamas claimed the assault was in retaliation to an incident at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the synchronized invasion by land, air, and water clearly implies extensive preparation.

In terms of scope and substance, the Hamas attack is unprecedented. The military’s morale was destroyed throughout the months of demonstrations as individuals, even from elite groups, left the service. For months, the Israeli military’s potential was not fully realized. Then came the week before Yom Kippur and Sukkot each year, when Israel was most exposed since the majority of the country observes religious holidays. According to Jangid, “Hamas exploited these issues, and the Israeli political elite likewise became overconfident in the idea that Hamas wouldn’t start a war.

The Yom Kippur War forced a fundamental reconsideration in Israeli society, and Jangid believes the Hamas attack may do the same for the government.

One of the factors that helped Israel and Egypt reach a peace agreement was the Yom Kippur War, and according to Jangid, it’s likely that Hamas and Israel might eventually reach a political agreement after the attack. But he dismisses it for the time being.

“The disappointment, rage, humiliation, and shock would prevent Hamas from ever becoming a legitimate political force. The Israelis can comprehend troops being taken prisoner in the line of duty, but children and the elderly being taken prisoner is a whole other reality, according to Jangid.

Israel only acknowledged captives on Sunday, although Hamas had already posted recordings of several detainees on Saturday. One of the most frequently circulated and denounced videos depicts a lady who seems to be dead being paraded in Gaza amid yells of celebration while still partially clothed. The public outcry in Israel has increased as a result of such displays of her and other Israeli captives.

Hamas wanted to undermine the impending normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which has recently been seen as a matter of when rather than if, in addition to reasserting its significance.

Jangid maintains that the attack has handed the Palestinian cause—which Hamas claims to represent—a significant blow, even though it was already a spent force.

The two-state solution had lost its relevance for a while because the Palestinian movement was so fragmented and because so many Israeli administrations had abandoned it long ago. It will take yet another hit from the Hamsa conflict. To whom do you speak? Who is the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) or Hamas’ representative? Like Yaser Arafat, no other leader exists today. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PA, is a crooked guy and a very unpopular figure who lacks a plan as Arafat had. The Palestinian movement is currently without a leader. For the time being, this battle won’t have any beneficial effects, claims Jangid.

Of course, ridding the nation of the assailants from Hamas is the Israeli government’s top concern. The Israeli soldiers were still engaged in combat with the assailants while this was being written. The captives would then come into focus, and any decision to launch a ground invasion of Gaza would take this into account. The Palestinian organizations have previously said that they are prepared to use unethical tactics and that they want to use the hostages to the fullest extent possible.

The renowned Mossad and the Israeli military looked to have lost the first battle for once. Uncertainty surrounds the course of the war’s second phase as a country incensed by the deadliest atrocity in history prepares to retaliate.

Despite all the unknowns, Jangid asserts that one thing is guaranteed.

“In Israel, there is no mandatory military service for ultra-orthodox religious Jews. The remaining Jews are enlisted as soldiers. In the most recent political crises, the army’s liberal-secular recruits asked that the religious be drafted as well. One of the ultra-orthodox party ministers in the present administration said that reading the Jewish sacred book of Torah is just as significant as joining the military. That equation, which was disrespectful to those who serve and sacrifice their lives in the military, is now in tatters. According to Jangid, “common Israelis recognize that their leaders and the rabbis who mocked the army commanders’ requests in the previous year have let them down.