How Hamas overcame 'Israel's' surveillance by going off-grid
4 Min Read
According to Beth Sanner, the former deputy director of national intelligence, Hamas had to have gone "very old school" to ensure the success of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
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Palestinians stand on a captured Israeli tank on October 8, 2023, in Gaza, Palestine. (AP)
After Palestinian Resistance fighters of Hamas shocked the world by breaking down the barrier of Israeli intelligence and surveillance, it is no surprise that "Israel" will have to deeply consider what went wrong for years to come... if they remain occupying Palestine for that long that is.
According to Bloomberg's Marc Champion, although there are still many unanswered questions about what occurred, it is obvious that Hamas went "low-tech" and was able to exploit every aspect of Israeli security.
Israeli media reported the death of 1,000 Israelis in the operation, noting that the number of casualties continues to rise, and the counting is ongoing.
The Palestinian Resistance evaded the occupation's capacity to monitor its communications and potentially even took advantage of the Israeli occupation forces' belief that its missile assaults could be repulsed.
According to Beth Sanner, the former deputy director of national intelligence, Hamas had to have gone "very old school" to ensure the success of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Sanner believes that they never discussed the plan electronically and divided tasks among multiple groups. He also attempts to downplay the sophistication of the operation by claiming that "very few people understood how each of the components came together as the whole plan.”
Alon Arvatz, a former member of "Israel’s" Unit 8200, in charge of the military's signals intelligence, believes Hamas was acquainted with how the occupation collects intelligence over the phone and emails and learned how to avoid it.
Overconfidence and domestic infighting
In addition, Hamas may have literally gone underground in tunnels to avoid radars.
Israeli military analyst Eado Hecht explained, “They sent a mass attack that overwhelmed the system beyond its capacity to react quickly enough."
Hamas' capabilities have soared since 2007, according to a May 2023 study in the journal Intelligence and National Security. These include keeping an eye on the border and gaining access to IOF communications, allowing them to become well-versed with Israeli weapons, training, and positions.
Read more: 'Israel was humiliated and defeated': The Washington Post
Kenneth Katzman, the Congressional Research Service’s former top Middle East expert, believes that intelligence was the "key" that allowed Hamas in.
Israeli infighting has allegedly also been a distraction for the Netanyahu government's security establishment.
A "false sense of security" and overconfidence, according to Champion, may also have led to "Israel's" security embarrassment and failure.
Sanner noted that Israelis “failed in the imagination of how all of these events that were happening came together as a much greater whole."
Israeli media pin 'Israel's' calamity, failure on Netanyahu
In its Sunday editorial, the Israeli occupation’s Haaretz newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “responsible for the catastrophe that befell Israel on Sukkot [a Jewish holiday].”
The daily noted that Netanyahu will attempt to “evade responsibility and lay the blame on the heads of the Army, Aman [military intelligence], and the Shin Bet.”
Haaretz further said in its editorial, “The prime minister, who prided himself on his vast political experience and his irreplaceable wit in security matters, completely failed to recognize the danger into which he knowingly led the country when he established the government of annexation and expropriation when he appointed Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to its key positions, and when he pursued a foreign policy that publicly ignored the presence and rights of the Palestinians.”
The newspaper further accused him of underestimating "the enemy and its military capabilities…However, the intelligence and military failure does not absolve Netanyahu of his overall responsibility for the crisis, as he is the supreme decision maker in Israeli foreign and security affairs.”
