Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the Israeli army’s orders on October 7, after Palestinian fighters breached the security wall and attacked the settlements, were to prevent them from returning to Gaza at any cost, even if that meant killing the Israeli prisoners in their grip.
In a report published today, Thursday, the Israeli newspaper reviewed the chaos of the first hours of that day, when the Palestinian resistance led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israeli military sites and settlements, in what is known as the Gaza envelope.
The report summarized the Israeli military response as “confused orders, pilots with no one to direct them to attack the militants, and an order to fire on all vehicles returning to Gaza despite the fear that they contained hostages.”
The newspaper continued, “The command system almost failed and it became completely blind. Due to the lack of communications, the soldiers were forced to direct air support using a mobile phone.”
She noted that “the old, unamended instructions were used by copying and pasting and sent to the field.” She added that drone operators had to log into settlement WhatsApp groups to obtain targets from besieged Israelis.
According to the report, at midnight on October 7, the Israeli army effectively ordered all of its combat units to implement the Hannibal Protocol, although this name was not clearly mentioned.
He added that the order was to prevent any attempt by Hamas fighters to return to Gaza at any cost, despite the fear that there would be “kidnappers” among them.
The newspaper reported that estimates indicate that about 1,000 Palestinian militants were killed in the area between the towns surrounding the Gaza Strip and the Gaza Strip, but it is not yet clear how many abductees were killed as a result of this order being activated.
According to the same report, in the week following the attack, soldiers from Israeli elite units examined about 70 vehicles left in that area.
He added that these vehicles did not reach Gaza; Because on the way “it was hit by fire from a combat helicopter, an anti-tank missile or a tank, and in at least some cases everyone in the car was killed.”
Where is the air force?
The Yedioth Ahronoth report pointed to questions about the role of the Air Force in the first minutes of the attack, and said that two F-16 (Storm) and two F-35 (Adir) planes were actually launched within minutes of the start of the attack, “but due to the confusion and dust of the battle, it was not There is someone to guide them to what is happening on the ground and direct them to the goals.”
He added, “Therefore, the two F-16 aircraft, for example, followed a consistent procedure and flew to protect strategic targets even though they were not in danger at the time.”
The report stated that the pilots had no idea that thousands of “elite” Hamas fighters were “invading the country at that time.”
The Israeli newspaper report continued, saying, “For a critical 45 minutes, they soared idly in the sky, and when they landed and their information was updated, around 8 a.m., their frustration and anger was enormous.”
The newspaper quoted a senior Air Force officer as saying, “They could have at least flown at a low altitude and frightened the Hamas terrorists by flying loudly overhead, but they did not know what was happening.”
Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Israeli army responded to what was contained in this report by saying that it would conduct a detailed and in-depth investigation to clarify the circumstances of what happened “when the operational situation allows it.”
Source : Israeli press + Anatolia Agency