Israel has sophisticated defence networks that include one of the world’s strongest militaries and a renowned intelligence service. How did Hamas breach them?
Unannounced and unanticipated, the first wave of gunmen slipped into Israel at dawn, preceded by the first of thousands of unguided “Qassam” rockets zipping overhead. Once on Israeli soil, they infiltrated nearby towns, security installations and a remote outdoor music festival, killing civilians and security forces indiscriminately and snatching some 150 hostages.
Gaza has a complicated and contested history; since the beginning of last century the territory has been in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, Britain, Egypt and Israel. Home to more than 2 million Palestinians, it is one of the world’s most densely populated regions. It is also one of the most deprived: these days it is all but cut off from the outside world and dependent on Israel for much, if not all, of its access to food, water and energy.
Hamas does not recognise Israel but has committed to the formation of a Palestinian state within the “1967 borders”, which refer to those existing before that year’s war in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Earlier, waves of unguided Qassam rockets, named for the military wing of Hamas, streamed overhead from the Gaza Strip into Israel, which had been hoarded by Hamas in their thousands. Some managed to penetrate the Iron Dome defence system but analysts we spoke with generally agreed their main purpose was to distract security forces while the gunmen carried out their terror attack on the ground.Horrific images of alleged Hamas brutality have since flooded social media.
Analysts say the Iron Dome has worked as it should since Saturday’s conflict. Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems says the system has a 90 per cent interception rate, which means if it is tackling many hundreds of targets simultaneously some may get through.
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