As the US talks of new solutions for Gaza, but there is still no consensus over it in the Middle East. And questions remain on how did it happen? Israel has traditionally deployed top notch surveillance systems – and used satellite inputs, drones, balloons, cameras, along with watchful spies and human agents – but they’ve all let Israel down. Why? Was it sheer complacency or was it that the Netanyahu government was too busy in bringing about judicial cum political changes within Israel, for their own benefits and so ignored the security apparatus? In such a world that Israel lives in, nothing could be ignored.
Given below are extracts from a social media post by a former Israeli military commander who knows the Gaza border. And if true, it is hard to believe that all of Israel’s systemS failed. No country with a capable armed force, could allow a large force like that what was used by Hamas to push its way past a traditionally heavily guarded boundary on the Gaza front, in daylight, and wreck mayhem inside their territories, leave aside Israel, that has a history of threats and attacks by anti-Israeli militias.
Look at what Yoram Erez, Commander of Israel’s Kerem Shalom Battalion, who knows the area in detail, wrote:-
“Something here doesn’t add up to me!!! This is a mystery that I can’t find an answer to (since when it took place)?
I happen to know how things work in Gaza and on the border. As the Commander of the Kerem Shalom Sector (Rafih), I was in charge of the Kissuf sector, I know the perimeter fence very well, I know how the Army works there. I was in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza, and I was in charge of the Jibaliya refugee camp, I would make ambushes on the fence and deep in the area. I met Gazans, ate and breathed Gaza.
“The obstacle is built so that even a fox cannot pass it:
Set alerts according to three levels of pressure. There are alerts when the fence cut. There are 24/7 forces that are responsible for arriving within a few minutes, if not seconds, to the point where there is an alert in the fence. Every day we do at least one penetration practice. Each subdivision has a standby squad whose role is to increase the force in an emergency situation.
“Observation posts scattered along the border cover every inch of it. The female observers are champions in identification. They don’t miss. They detect movement even before it even approaches the obstacle – day and night. At problematic points (dead areas/zones) they place a tank with observation and detection capabilities, and with terrifying firepower. In some cases, snipers are deployed in the field.
“Every day before dawn there is a “dawn alert” procedure. At this hour all the forces are awake (in this case (it was) also the hour when hundreds of terrorists entered Israel). The night shift alternates with the day shift. The commander of each force inspects the axis to make sure there were no infiltrations during the night. Trackers that move on the axis know how to recognize traces. They know who crossed the fence, how much and even when.
Each scenario has a clear procedure. For example, a procedure for infiltrating terrorists, a procedure for taking hostages.
“There are several other layers of security in an obstacle that proved itself for years and years. So how the hell does a Palestinian tractor move towards the fence without anyone reacting to it? How did the tractor manage to sabotage the fence for a long hour and open access to Israel without anyone reacting to it?
More questions still remain: “How did hundreds of terrorists and civilians cross the barrier without anyone on our side lifting a finger?
How did the Palestinians arrive on foot and in vehicles- armed from head to toe- into dozens of Israeli settlements, without any reaction from our side? How did hundreds of terrorists stay in Israeli territory for long hours, shoot hundreds of Israelis, loot property, without there being even a single reaction on our side?”
“How did it happen that hundreds of attackers kidnapped dozens of Israelis, woke women, children, babies, old people (Israelis), surprised soldiers and officers when they were not ready, and kidnapped them over to Gaza, without anyone stopping them? How is it that even one bullet was not fired? How did all this happen under Israel’s noses? Where did an entire division with Israel’s thousands of soldiers go?”
These questions aren’t going to be answered easily or publicly. It shows more than a massive failure in border management or was there a big sabotage from within?
–This essay is made up of extracts from earlier published pieces by the author. https://www.maroofraza.com
