How Hamas breached Israel’s sophisticated security, hoodwinked its intelligence

It’s been more than 24 hours since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. It’s the deadliest the country has witnessed in decades.

More than 300 people have died in Israel after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip and Palestinian terrorists entered the Israeli territory by land, sea, and air. Even as Tel Aviv launched retaliatory airstrikes that killed more than 230 in Gaza, Hamas continued to wreak havoc taking several hostages, including Israeli soldiers. Their fate remains unknown.

Now the conflict has entered the second day and fighting continues in southern Israel between Hamas militants and Israeli defence forces. The attack is seen as a major failure for a nation which has one of the most extensive intelligence services in the world.

We take a look at how Hamas breached Israeli security.

An attack by land, air, and sea

Hamas terrorists travelled in vehicles, boats and motorised paragliders. They breached Gaza’s security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby.

The border fence between Israel and Gaza has cameras, sophisticated sensors and regular army patrols. The barbed-wired fence is said to have a “smart barrier” to stop infiltration. The fortified border proved no match for heavy explosives unleashed by Hamas militants as they burst into Israel. According to a BBC report, some Hamas militants made their way into Israel by cutting holes in the wires.

Several others entered by sea and by air, using paragliders.

Videos circulating on social media showed several masked gunmen were seen driving around in a pickup truck in Sderot, the Israeli city which is close to the Gaza border.

For Israelis working and living within the range of Gaza, the sight of Hamas terrorists roaming the streets marked a terrifying turn of events unlike anything residents had experienced before.

“This was always the nightmare. We told ourselves that one day, the terrorists will come inside here,” Jehan Berman, a 42-year-old in the small community of Avshalom near Gaza told The Associated Press. It took eight hours, he said, for the Israeli military to arrive at his kibbutz and start fending off the Hamas fighters.

The attack was dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” by Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif. He said it was in response to the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the attacks on women and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

Also read: Israel is at ‘war’: How conflict with Gaza escalated after Hamas attack

Bypassing Israel’s Iron Dome

Hamas’ multi-pronged attack started around 6:30 am Saturday with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the almost impenetrable Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.

Hamas says they fired 5,000 rockets at Israel, while the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) puts that figure at 2,200. Even the conservative estimate is huge. In comparison, some 4,000 rockets were fired from Gaza to Israel during the 50-day war between the two sides in 2014, according to a CNN report.

The Iron Dome System is a short-range, ground-to-air defence system with radar and Tamir interceptor missiles, which track and neutralise any rockets or missiles aimed at Israeli targets. It has been successfully used for countering rockets, artillery & mortars (C-RAM), which has been deployed in 2011.

Experts say it has a success rate of 80 per cent. However, on Saturday it was overpowered after thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza – 5000 in 20 minutes if Hamas is to be believed. The multiple attacks in such a short period made it difficult for the control system to intercept all targets.

Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem, as multiple rockets were launched. In Tel Aviv, a gaping hole was ripped into a building, with residents boarding a bus to seek safety in a hotel, reports news agency AFP.

Rocket impacts left cars burning beneath residential buildings in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza.

Overnight gunbattles

Gun battles continued overnight in southern Israel between Hamas militants and the Israeli soldiers. On Sunday, Israel said it was still dealing with Hamas in eight areas where Palestinian militants had infiltrated following the surprise attack.

Israeli military spokesperson Lt Col Richard Hecht in a Sunday morning briefing, that the IDF regained control of 22 locations in the south that were invaded by Hamas militants But they are still dealing with them in eight locations, mainly to confirm “clean of terrorist inside those communities”.

Mass killings, taking hostages

Hamas on Saturday released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians. “I can’t give figures about them at the moment. It’s a war crime committed by Hamas and they will pay the price.”

But the Israeli Embassy to the United States has put the figure at 100 in a social media post. That includes both civilians and soldiers, it says.