With the Hamas massacres on October 7th, the Israeli army’s reputation as a practically unbeatable, strategically brilliant army ended. The question arises: How did Hamas manage to penetrate Israeli territory so undisturbed? The answer is provided by this video from the Washington Post, which is as disturbing as it is enlightening.
From dozens of videos and documents found on Hamas fighters, the reporters piece together how they paralyzed and blew open the high-tech fence on Gaza’s border with Israel and its defenses.
You can see from the perspective of drones how they drop their explosives on the unmanned machine gun turrets, how cameras are shot down and a scout balloon that is attached to the fence is simply cut loose and flies away (by the way, several of these relatively old balloons were also in use at the time Repair).
In retrospect, this all seems surprisingly simple, even if there is probably years of spying work behind it.
Hamas exploited vulnerabilities created by Israel’s reliance on technology at the “Iron Wall” to carry out the deadliest single assault in Israel’s history. The video details how Hamas fighters neutralized long-range cameras, sophisticated sensors and remote-control weapons — a tactic known inside the group as the “blinding plan” — to breach the high-tech fence.
Israel’s attempt to outsource defense to a semi-automated, outrageously expensive system has failed. The automation of the military reached its limits here, at least on the defensive. This blind trust in technological “solutions” will probably also have political consequences.
In addition, there was also poor information flow up the hierarchy. The Financial Times reports that servicewomen relatively accurately predicted and warned about the scenario that occurred on October 7th. They were not heard by their superiors.