October 7 massacre: How Hamas attacked Israel’s border and killed 1,200 people international

At dawn on Saturday, October 7, 2023, hundreds of Hamas fighters and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip prepared for an operation that would demolish Israel’s dream of violence. A massacre in which 1,195 people would be killed and another 251 would be abducted.

Hamas fighters took advantage of the unexpected opportunity to infiltrate a dozen locations and were followed by hundreds of Gazan civilians.

Hamas had followed a systematic plan, meticulous, detailed and tested over the course of months of training. This is the only way to explain such synchronicity of attacks with a border delimitation of 60 kilometres. The main attack was from land, but motor boats were also used to reach the northern beaches and motorized paragliders were used for reconnaissance. Various types of attacks in remote areas, so that at least some fighters cross the wall.

Andreas Craig, a security analyst at King’s College London, has explained the strategy in detail: “The aim of the attack was to cut off the electricity that powers the entire Israeli sentry system. “And to do this they used tools that were not exactly state-of-the-art technology, like grenades, rocket launchers or AK-47s.” That was all Hamas needed to carry out the attack. “Human ingenuity,” says Craig, “provided the rest.”

Israel considered itself impenetrable after years of maintaining complete control over the Strip. The former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, explained it in an interview with EL PACE last January: “The Israeli mentality was something else, and that is what allowed the genocide. Arrogance. That was the problem. There was no intelligence failure. Not intelligence but psychological and intellectual failure. We knew everything. (…) But sometimes we didn’t know how to read the other person’s mind.

This superiority of those who felt invincible led to much of the information collected being practically ignored, according to the London analyst, who presented a hypothesis: “The technological interdependence, the interaction between man and machine that characterizes modern armies. And especially as seen in Israel, it has clouded the cognitive ability to interpret what your enemy’s intentions are. Hamas’s capabilities have been undermined.

According to an investigation, Tel Aviv intelligence had been planning an attack for a year, with Hamas detailing step-by-step the surprise attack, which it carried out on October 7. the new York TimesThe terrorist group had published videos of its exercises, where fighters were seen blasting pieces of fence, attacking houses and taking hostages, as happened on the day of the massacre. There was consensus among Israeli senior leadership that Hamas leaders were willing, but not capable, to infiltrate the country.

However, on the morning of October 7, hundreds of fighters entered Israel, and once inside they found that there was no one to confront them. Then the atrocities started.

genocide

Saturday began as a day of celebration in Israel and ended as the deadliest day in the country’s history, marking the first time an enemy entered its territory since the war that followed its creation in 1948.

232 is a highway that runs parallel to the border fence between Israel and Gaza, and judging by what has happened since the first moments of the attack, taking control of it is part of Hamas’ plan. According to Israeli media investigations, the attackers set up barricades at at least 37 points. HaaretzPositioned at other road intersections, they kill those fleeing and hinder the arrival of troops.

Once the spine of the area is controlled, the terrorists set out in search of victims. They killed 1,195 people. According to Israeli officials’ counts, 815 of them are civilians. They attack military bases, agricultural communities (kibbutz) And a giant electronic music festival that they have to deal with.

Nahal Oz Military Post

Eight military bases were attacked on October 7, according to a report prepared last June by an independent commission for the UN Human Rights Council. They were attacked with less personnel than usual, as many soldiers were on leave for the Simchat Torah holiday. At the Nahal Oz military post adjacent to the fence, 66 Israeli soldiers were killed, according to the report, which provides details of what happened that morning.

Nahal Oz is one of the bases where observers live, a place the Israeli military reserves for women around 20 years old. Their job is to watch live feeds from cameras pointed at Gaza, warn of suspicious activity, and be in charge of the machine guns on the towers.

At 6:30 in the morning they see the coup taking place: images of projectiles being launched, fences being blown up with explosives and militiamen entering Israel by the dozens. At seven o’clock, the enemy base is on the perimeter. About twenty unarmed female security personnel are hiding in the bomb shelter of the base.

At about 7:45, the first terrorist with an AK-47 tries to enter, but is shot by six armed soldiers guarding two doors. Militiamen from outside threw three grenades. 13 women died in the shelter. Three others manage to escape, but are killed in other areas of the base. Seven more were taken to Gaza. The other 10 women locked themselves in some rooms. He could not be saved until six hours later.

With the siege of military bases along the border, Hamas prevented Israeli troops from moving out to protect the civilian population. The Nahal Oz massacre alone would be the terrorist attack with the highest death toll in Israel’s history. The same thing happened at dozens of places on the morning of 7 October.

Nova Festival

About three kilometers from the Gaza border, electronic music has been playing since 9 o’clock on Friday afternoon. About 3,500 attendees dance at dawn when dozens of projectiles become visible in the sky. He DJ Cut music. A hunt begins that lasts for hours.

The first people to realize what is happening flee by car onto Highway 232 heading north or south, without being aware of the magnitude of the attack. He has been shot by terrorists. Some people return aimlessly, some die in their cars. At the end of the festival there is a huge traffic jam. Chaos ensues when the youth realize that it is not just missiles being fired anymore, but terrorists coming everywhere.

Some people hide in the bathroom, under the stage or in nearby tree areas. Many people flee to the open fields to the east in an attempt to get away from Gaza. Dozens of people take shelter in air-raid shelters on the street, with four walls and a roof with one entrance. They are perfect traps. Terrorists have to remain deployed only at the entry point to find victims. They throw smoke grenades, fire at the group and take hostages. There are dead people on the streets, behind bars, in nearby fields.

364 people were murdered, 1 out of every 10 attendees. Another 200 were injured and 40 hostages were taken to Gaza.

Beeri

The Biri community was attacked by 340 Gazans, including militia and civilians. 101 people were murdered there, which was 10% of the population of this town located four kilometers from Patti. Surveillance camera recordings show the militiamen divided into small detachments, moving around on motorcycles or trucks without any coordination or orders.

Security camera recordings from just before 7 a.m. show two attackers in military fatigues hiding near the fenced perimeter gate. Exactly two minutes later a car arrives carrying three men. They shoot them while they are waiting for the automatic opening. They were young people who were running away from the Nova festival.

Once the door is open, the first attackers start shooting at anything that moves. By nine in the morning the commandos proceed systematically from house to house. Most residents take shelter in armored rooms, designed more to protect themselves from aerial rockets than ground attack. The attackers enter some by force, and in others they use grenades or set fire to houses to force residents to leave where they wait.

Manuel R. Pablo de Olavide, professor of political science at the University of Seville (Seville) and terrorism expert. Torres explains that brutality: “The purpose of these attacks is not only to injure as large a number of victims as possible, but also to spread terror.” A terrible death occurs. “Showing dramatic violence to maximize psychological impact is part of the DNA of terrorism.”

The militants overran the population by the afternoon and captured civilian patrols of the city. When word spreads throughout the strip that the fence has been destroyed and the response from the other side is slow, hundreds of Gazan civilians take advantage of the opportunity they are offered to cross the border. They loot houses, help abduct civilians from 8:30 in the morning and go back to Gaza. By 4:15 pm there was no significant military presence in Biri, and by 6 pm there were already about 700 people there. They surrounded the terrorists, who barricaded themselves in some houses with hostages.

The army did not regain control until Sunday morning and the fighting did not end until Monday morning. An investigation by Jewish state authorities concluded that he was unable to protect the population of Biri and estimated that he killed 100 Gazans.

Israeli military response

According to the investigation handed over to the United Nations, the Israeli military was unable to understand the magnitude of the attack and was unable to respond to it. Troops in the south of the country were overwhelmed by the offensive, and sabotage prevented effective communication between troops and superiors. Military commandos, police officers or civil protection groups of the population faced the fighters as best they could, wondering why they did not receive help from their state, without recognizing that they were not the only ones facing the terrorists.

At around ten in the morning eight military helicopters were covering the area, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not arrive in most of the towns until the afternoon. The terrorists had plenty of time to abduct civilians, take them to Gaza, and re-enter across the fence.

“The bulk of Israeli quick reaction troops were near Lebanon. Until that moment, the threat to Israel was Hezbollah. Hamas was considered a small organization, with a history of minor incursions and oppression. They relied on small detachments that were deployed depending on where infiltration was detected. “The deployment of troops is not a matter of urgency,” explains Torres.

Israel found itself completely overwhelmed, surprised, captured. Overcoming the initial paralysis of someone who can’t believe what it takes to move forward to defend themselves and finally go on the offensive until the enemy is driven out, all Saturday and into the following Sunday Took over to Israel. “Even Hamas members would be surprised,” says British analyst Andreas Craig. “Many of the atrocities took place because no one, not least any member of Hamas, but also any Israeli citizen, could imagine that such an attack could turn out to be a walk in the park for the attackers.”

The consequences of that fateful day remain. Hamas fighters captured 251 people. After a mass prisoner swap last November, there are about 100 prisoners left in Gaza, 35 of whom have already been declared dead. Israel responded to the attack with a full-scale invasion of Gaza in search of any Hamas members. A mass execution that killed more than 41,800 Gazans.

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Coordination: Danielle Grasso

design: Fernando Hernandez