Questions Arise Over Intelligence and Security Failures in Wake of Hamas Attack on Israel

Israel is grappling with the aftermath of a deadly attack launched by Hamas militants, who managed to breach barriers around Gaza and carry out a devastating assault on Israeli towns, resulting in the loss of numerous civilian lives. As the nation comes to terms with the tragedy, Israel’s defense leadership faces mounting inquiries into the circumstances that allowed such a disaster to occur.

Coming just a day after the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur war, a conflict in which Israeli forces were caught off guard by Syrian and Egyptian tank columns, the military once again found itself confronting a sudden and well-coordinated attack.

Retired General Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, remarked, “It looks quite similar to what happened at that time. As we can see it, Israel was completely surprised by a very well-coordinated attack.” Eiland’s comments were made during a briefing with reporters.

An army spokesperson acknowledged that discussions on the intelligence preparation would occur “down the road,” but emphasized that the immediate focus was on the ongoing conflict. “We’ll talk about that when we need to talk about it,” the spokesperson stated during a briefing with reporters.

Israel has consistently regarded Hamas as a formidable adversary. However, since inflicting significant damage on Gaza during a 10-day war in 2021, Israel had adopted a nuanced approach aimed at maintaining stability in the blockaded enclave. This approach included offering economic incentives, such as granting thousands of work permits to Gazans allowing them to work in Israel or the occupied West Bank. Concurrently, Israel upheld a strict blockade of Gaza and maintained the constant threat of air strikes.

In the past 18 months, as violence escalated across the West Bank, Gaza remained relatively calm, with sporadic cross-border clashes mainly involving smaller factions like the Islamic Jihad, while Hamas remained largely inactive.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government had consistently highlighted its commitment to security and adopted a resolute stance towards Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007.

However, in the face of the recent attack, Israel’s security apparatus appeared to falter, with a force of Hamas gunmen—estimated by the military to number in the hundreds—breaching security fences and infiltrating Israeli towns.

Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East for the U.S. government who now works at the Atlantic Council think tank, commented, “This was an intelligence failure; it could not be otherwise. It was a security failure, undermining what was thought to be an aggressive and successful layered approach toward Gaza by Israel.”

For Israelis, the sight of lifeless bodies in the streets and groups of civilians being taken captive in Gaza has been deeply shocking. The attack resulted in the deaths of over 250 Israelis, with more than 1,500 wounded—a level of Israeli casualties not seen in a single day previously. The military also suffered significant losses, and Palestinian militant groups claimed to have captured dozens of Israeli soldiers.

Hamas fighters managed to seize security posts, including a police station in the southern town of Sderot, and overran the Erez crossing—a high-security facility responsible for regulating the movement of people entering and leaving Gaza. Footage circulated by Hamas media depicted militants in control of the abandoned facilities.

Former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata stated, “They’ve been planning this for a long time. Obviously, this is a very coordinated attack, and unfortunately, they were able to surprise us tactically and cause devastating damage.”