A compilation of clips released by Hamas on Sunday showed how the terror group says it burst across the border and invaded southern Israel on Saturday, unleashing a vast, murderous attack, killing at least 600 civilians and soldiers, and kidnapping dozens more to the Gaza Strip.
The clips, broadcast by Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV channel on Sunday afternoon, purport to show that Hamas first bombed Israeli military observation towers and weapons systems on the border using drones.
The footage shows drones dropping explosive devices onto the IDF targets at the Gaza border.
Next, the terror group fired hundreds of rockets at southern and central Israel, as terrorists on paragliders flew over the border.
Moments later, Hamas approached the border fence, blew up holes in it using large explosive devices, and allowed hundreds of terrorists to infiltrate into Israel, many of them in trucks and motorcycles. (The fence was breached in numerous places, and remained porous long after the initial infiltration, enabling further large numbers to cross from Gaza.)
The terrorists then attacked Israeli army posts along the border, and nearby communities.
A compilation of Hamas clips shows how the terror group invaded southern Israel yesterday. First they bombed Israeli observation towers and weapons systems on the border, then fired hundreds of rockets as terrorists on paragliders flew over the border. Moments later, Hamas… pic.twitter.com/D4iIoCV51q
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 8, 2023
Hamas also attempted to infiltrate via the sea, but Navy forces repelled the attack, killing dozens of terrorists.
Hundreds of gunmen infiltrated into Israel, some in pickup trucks, many heavily armed, in an onslaught experts have said was clearly carefully prepared. They swept through numerous towns, kibbutzim and moshavim, massacring hundreds of Israelis, holding many hostage inside Israel for hours, and abducting numerous Israeli civilians of all ages and soldiers to Gaza as hostages.
Bodies lie on a main road near Kibbutz Gevim on October 7, 2023 following an attack by Hamas terrorists. (Oren ZIV / AFP)
The footage appears to underline the extent of Israel’s military and intelligence failures in the lead-up to the onslaught, with Israel having reopened the Erez border crossing into Gaza on September 28 despite ongoing riots and violence on the border, apparently assessing that the situation at the border was under control, and preferring not to continue to bar 17,000 Gazans with work permits from Israel.
Hamas has said that young Palestinians organized the border protests in response to surging violence in the West Bank and alleged provocations in Jerusalem.
Palestinians had also floated incendiary kites and balloons across the border into southern Israel, setting fire to farmland and unnerving Israeli civilian communities close to Gaza.
On September 27, Defense Ministry Yoav Gallant had warned that Israel was prepared to step up actions against Gaza because of the border unrest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (C) and military chiefs at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv for a security assessment on October 8, 2023 (GPO)
“We don’t want an escalation [in fighting] and are not looking for a fight, but if we get to the point where we need to act, let Operation Shield and Arrow be a reminder for all terror groups about the capabilities of [Israel’s] security apparatus,” Gallant said at a memorial marking 50 years since the Yom Kippur war. Shield and Arrow was a five-day Israeli offensive targeting the Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza in May that saw a number of leaders of the group killed.
“If Israeli civilians or soldiers are harmed, we will not hesitate to use everything in our power to ensure the safety of civilians and bring quiet back to the border,” Gallant said.
Israeli military sources have confirmed that Islamic Jihad and other Gaza terror groups participated in Saturday’s Hamas-orchestrated invasion.
