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Heavily armed men in uniform cut holes in the fencing. They enter the settlements in pick-up trucks, on motorcycles or from the air with paragliders. The fighters kick in doors, drag people from their homes and kidnap people. They break through the defenses and overwhelm tank troops.
None of this happened alone on that devastating October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists ravaged an Israeli open-air festival, tortured and murdered civilians on the kibbutz, and abducted some 240 of their victims to Gaza.
Scenes similar to those of the massacre of approximately 1,200 Israelis had been seen on publicly accessible social media channels for four years. Propaganda videos glorifying military exercises held just a few hundred meters from the Israeli border fence.
Several terrorist groups practiced for the massacre
BBC Arabic and BBC Verify combed the internet and the messaging app Telegram. They analyzed how Hamas formed and trained its army for the so-called ‘Operation Storm Column’. The British reporters recognize fighters from ten different terrorist groups by their camouflage suits and labeled headbands.
In addition to Hamas’ largest force, the Kassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihad’s second largest, for example the Marxist-Leninist ‘Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades’, Fatah’s ‘Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades’ and the Palestinian fighters Al-De Mujahideen movement and the ‘Omar Al-Qassim forces’ of the ‘Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’ took part in the war games.
There were four major maneuvers, the BBC reports, one per year. They were being monitored by a Hamas command center. In December 2022, the fighters simulated the storming of an Israeli military base.
Satellite images show fourteen military training areas
The training camp was located one mile from the nearest Israeli watchtower and was set up in an artificial depression. Actually unmissable by Israeli air surveillance. The attack on Israel was also carried out near a distribution center of a UN aid agency. In total, BBC Verify locates 14 training sites in nine locations in the Gaza Strip using satellite images available on the internet.
Weeks before the massacre, exercises that could be followed on the Telegram channel increased. On September 10, images of men in uniform observing military facilities along the Gaza border were published. Two days later there was a dress rehearsal for “Operation Storm Column”. Terror units were filmed driving the same white pickup trucks used in the attack on the kibbutz and festival a month later.
Israeli army border guards reported unusually high drone activity and suspicious military training near the Gaza border weeks before the attacks. Their warnings went unheeded.
“Israel believed it was invincible”
Despite the extensive and obvious war preparations, the border was virtually unprotected on the morning of October 7, when approximately 3,000 terrorists entered Israel. For more than 17 hours, civilians were left completely defenseless, at the mercy of the murderous mob. How could that happen?
According to Andreas Krieg (37), the right-wing populist government of Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for the failure. “The army was focused on occupying the West Bank, not defending the country. “The priority was to protect the settlers and that is why soldiers were withdrawn from the Gaza border,” the security expert from Kings College London said in an interview with Blick.
“Israel simply felt invincible because of the state-of-the-art surveillance technology, the artificial intelligence used and the Iron Dome military missile defense shield,” says Andreas Krieg. All warnings were carelessly ignored. The Palestinians were no longer given a two-state solution, they were dehumanized and no longer noticed. Their anger was ignored. The government’s arrogance ultimately led to catastrophe, according to the British Middle East expert.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
