{"id":2060311,"date":"2023-10-09T10:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T14:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-israel-was-caught-off-guard-by-hamass-two-year-campaign-of-deception\/"},"modified":"2023-10-09T10:43:55","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T14:43:55","slug":"how-israel-was-caught-off-guard-by-hamass-two-year-campaign-of-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-israel-was-caught-off-guard-by-hamass-two-year-campaign-of-deception\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel was surprised by Hamas&#8217;s deceptive campaign for two years."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-israel-was-caught-off-guard-by-hamass-two-year-campaign-of-deception%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2060311&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Careful Campaign of Deception: How Hamas Caught Israel Off Guard<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A careful campaign of deception ensured <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> was caught off guard when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its devastating attack, enabling a force using bulldozers, \u2062hang gliders, and\u2064 motorbikes to take on\u2062 the Middle East&#8217;s \u200dmost powerful army.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Saturday&#8217;s assault, the worst breach in <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>&#8216;s defenses since Arab armies waged war in 1973,\u2064 followed two years of subterfuge by Hamas that\u200b involved keeping its military plans under wraps \u2063and \u200bconvincing <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> it did \u200cnot want a fight.<\/p>\n<p>While <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> was led\u200b to believe it was containing a war-weary Hamas by providing economic incentives to Gazan workers, the group&#8217;s fighters were being trained and drilled,\u200b often in plain sight, a source \u2063close to Hamas said.<\/p>\n<p>This source \u2063provided \u200cmany of the details for\u2064 the account of the attack and its buildup\u2064 that\u200b has been pieced together by Reuters. Three sources within <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>&#8216;s security establishment, who like others asked not\u200b to be identified, also contributed \u2063to this account.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hamas gave\u200d <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> the impression that it was not ready for a fight,&#8221; said the source close to \u2062Hamas, describing plans for the most \u2062startling assault since the Yom Kippur\u200d War 50 years ago when Egypt and Syria surprised \u200b <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> and made it fight for its survival.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hamas used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> over the last months, by giving a public impression that it was not willing to go into a fight or confrontation with <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> \u200cwhile preparing for this massive operation,&#8221; the\u2064 source said.<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> concedes \u200cit was caught off guard by an attack\u200d timed to coincide with the Jewish Sabbath and a religious holiday. Hamas \u2063fighters \u2064stormed into <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i towns, \u200ckilling 700 <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>is and abducting dozens. <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> has killed more than 400 \u200dPalestinians in its\u2062 retaliation on Gaza since then.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This \u2062is our 9\/11,&#8221; said Major Nir Dinar, spokesperson for the <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> Defense Forces.\u200d &#8220;They got us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They surprised us and they came fast from many spots\u2014both from the air and the ground and the sea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, told Reuters the attack showed Palestinians\u200c had the will to \u2063achieve their goals &#8220;regardless \u2063of <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>&#8216;s military power and capabilities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;They Ran Riot&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>In one of the most striking elements of their preparations, Hamas constructed a \u2064mock <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i settlement in Gaza where they practiced\u200b a military landing and trained to storm it, \u2064the source close to Hamas said, adding they even made \u200dvideos\u2064 of the \u200bmaneuvers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> surely saw\u2063 them but they \u2062were convinced that Hamas\u2063 wasn&#8217;t keen on getting \u2064into a confrontation,&#8221; the source\u200c said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Hamas\u2062 sought to convince <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> it \u2062cared\u2062 more\u2064 about ensuring that workers in Gaza, a narrow strip of land with more than two million\u2064 residents, had access to jobs across the border and had no interest in starting \u2063a new war.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hamas was able to build a whole image that it was not ready for a military adventure against <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>,&#8221; the source said.<\/p>\n<p>Since a 2021 war with Hamas,\u2062 <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> has sought to provide\u200c a basic level of economic \u200bstability in Gaza by \u200doffering \u2062incentives including thousands of permits so Gazans can work in <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> or the West Bank, where salaries in construction, agriculture, or service jobs can be \u206210 times the level of pay in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u200d believed that the fact \u200dthat they were coming in to work and bringing money into Gaza would create a certain level of calm. We were wrong,&#8221; another \u2063 <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i \u2064Army\u2062 spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>An\u200b <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i security source acknowledged <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>&#8216;s\u200c security services\u2062 were <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">duped<\/span> by Hamas. &#8220;They caused us to think they \u200dwanted money,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;And all the time they were involved in \u2064exercises\/drills until they ran riot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As part of its subterfuge in the past two years, Hamas\u200d refrained from military operations against <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>, even as another Gaza-based Islamist armed group known as Islamic Jihad launched \u2063a series of\u2062 its own assaults or rocket attacks.<\/p>\n<h3>No Inkling<\/h3>\n<p>The\u2062 restraint shown by Hamas drew public criticism from some supporters, again aimed at building an impression that \u2062Hamas had economic concerns, not \u200ca new war \u200con its mind, \u2062the source said.<\/p>\n<p>In the West Bank, controlled by Palestinian \u2062president Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah group, there were those who \u2063mocked Hamas for going \u200bquiet. \u2064In one Fatah statement published in June 2022, the group accused Hamas leaders of\u2064 fleeing to Arab capitals to live in \u2064&#8221;luxurious hotels and villas&#8221; leaving their people to \u2063poverty in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>A second <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i security source said there was \u2063a period when \u200c <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> believed the movement&#8217;s leader in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar,\u200c was preoccupied \u200dwith managing Gaza &#8220;rather than\u200b killing Jews&#8221;. At \u200cthe same \u200ctime, <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> turned its focus away from Hamas as it pushed for a deal\u200d to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, he added.<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> has long prided itself on its ability to infiltrate and monitor Islamist groups. \u2064As\u200b a consequence, the source \u200cclose to\u200d Hamas said, a crucial part of the plan was to avoid leaks.<\/p>\n<p>Many Hamas\u200b leaders \u2063were unaware \u200cof the plans and, while training, the 1,000 fighters deployed in the assault had no inkling of the exact purpose of the exercises, the \u200dsource added.<\/p>\n<p>When the day \u2063came, the\u200c operation was divided into four parts, the Hamas source said, describing the various elements.<\/p>\n<p>The first move was\u200d a barrage of 3,000 rockets fired from Gaza\u200b that coincided \u2064with incursions by \u200cfighters \u2062who flew hang gliders, or motorized paragliders, over the border, the source said. <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> has previously said 2,500 rockets were fired\u2062 at first.<\/p>\n<p>Once the fighters on hang-gliders were on\u2064 the ground, they secured the terrain so an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/residents-of-caracas-venezuela-fearful-to-return-home\/\" title=\"Residents of Caracas, Venezuela fearful to return home\">elite commando unit<\/a> could storm the fortified electronic and cement wall built by <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> to prevent infiltration.<\/p>\n<p>The fighters used \u200bexplosives to breach the barriers and\u200b then sped across on motorbikes. Bulldozers widened the gaps and more fighters entered in four-wheel drives, scenes that witnesses described.<\/p>\n<p>A commando unit attacked the <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i army&#8217;s southern Gaza headquarters and jammed its communications, preventing personnel from calling commanders\u2062 or each other, the source said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-israel-was-caught-off-guard-by-hamass-two-year-campaign-of-deception\/\" title=\"Israel was surprised by Hamas's deceptive campaign for two years.\">final part involved moving hostages<\/a>\u200b to \u200cGaza, \u200bmostly achieved early in\u2062 the attack, the source\u2062 close to Hamas said.<\/p>\n<p>In one well-publicized \u2064hostage taking, fighters abducted \u200dparty-goers fleeing a rave near the kibbutz\u200b of Re&#8217;im near Gaza. \u2063Social media footage showed dozens of people\u2062 running \u200dthrough fields and on \u2062a road as gunshots were heard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">How<\/span> could this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shapiro-the-real-reason-schools-are-still-closed\/\" title=\"SHAPIRO: The Real Reason Schools Are Still Closed\">party happen<\/a> this close [to Gaza]?&#8221; the <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i security source said.<\/p>\n<p>The <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i security source said <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i \u2062troops were below\u2062 full strength in \u2062the south near Gaza because some had been redeployed to\u200b the West Bank to protect <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>i settlers following a surge of violence between them and Palestinian \u200dmilitants.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They [Hamas] \u200dexploited that,&#8221; the source\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis Ross, a\u2063 former Middle East negotiator who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,\u2064 said <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> had been distracted by violence in\u200b the West Bank, leading to a &#8220;thin, under-prepared presence in the south.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hamas probably succeeded beyond their expectation. Now they will have \u200dto deal with an <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span> \u2062determined to decimate them,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Retired General Yaakov Amidror, a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-to-pardon-gen-michael-flynn-per-report\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump to Pardon Gen. Michael Flynn, Per Report\">national security adviser<\/a> to Prime Minister \u2064Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters on Sunday\u200c the assault represented &#8220;a huge failure of the intelligence system and the military apparatus in\u200b the south.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amidror, \u200bchairman \u200dof the National Security Council from April 2011-November \u200b2013 and now senior fellow \u200bwith the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said some \u2064of <span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Israel<\/span>&#8216;s allies had been saying that Hamas had acquired &#8220;more responsibility&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We stupidly began to believe that it was true,&#8221; he \u200csaid. \u200c&#8221;So, we\u200c made a mistake. We are not going\u2063 to make this mistake again and we will\u2063 destroy Hamas, \u200cslowly but \u200dsurely.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul in \u200dDubai and Jonathan Saul in London; additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in \u2063the West Bank and Matt Spetalnick in Washington,\u200d writing by William Maclean; editing by Edmund\u2063 Blair)<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How did Hamas use\u200b strategic misdirection to mislead Israel and catch them off guard?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Ceasefire was reached in 2014, Hamas had been strategically laying the groundwork \u2063for \u200dthis attack. They used a careful \u200ccampaign of\u2063 deception to mislead Israel and create the impression that they were not ready for a fight\u2063 or confrontation. While Israel believed it was containing a war-weary Hamas through economic incentives, the group was secretly training and drilling its fighters for a\u2063 massive operation.<\/p>\n<p>According to a source close to Hamas, the group used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead Israel. They publicly portrayed themselves as unwilling to engage in a fight, while all \u200dthe while preparing for a large-scale assault. This tactic allowed Hamas to\u200c catch Israel off guard and launch a devastating \u2064attack.<\/p>\n<p>One of the\u200c most \u200cstriking elements of Hamas&#8217; preparations was the \u2063construction of a mock Israeli settlement in\u200d Gaza. They used this settlement to practice military landings\u2062 and train\u2063 their\u2062 fighters to storm it. Videos of \u2062these maneuvers were even made. While Israel surely saw\u2064 these preparations, they were convinced that Hamas was not interested in a confrontation.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the deception,\u2064 Hamas sought to convince Israel that \u2062it cared more about the well-being of Gazan workers than starting a new war. They built an \u2062image of a group focused on ensuring job opportunities for the residents of Gaza and \u2064portrayed themselves \u200das not ready for a military adventure against Israel.<\/p>\n<p>However, on Saturday, Hamas launched a surprise attack that\u200b was timed\u2062 to coincide with the Jewish Sabbath and \u200da religious holiday. The attack caught Israel off guard, and Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns, resulting in the death of 700 Israelis \u2064and the abduction of dozens. Israel, in retaliation, has killed over 400 Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Major Nir Dinar, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, conceded that Israel was surprised by the attack.\u200c He described how Hamas came fast from multiple spots, using various means of transportation, including bulldozers, hang gliders, and motorbikes.<\/p>\n<p>Osama Hamdan, the \u200dHamas\u200c representative in Lebanon, stated that the attack demonstrated the Palestinians&#8217; will to achieve their\u200d goals, regardless of\u2064 Israel&#8217;s military power and \u2062capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2064 conclusion, Hamas successfully executed a careful campaign of deception that caught Israel off guard and allowed them to launch a\u2064 devastating attack. Through the use of strategic\u200c misdirection, training in plain \u2062sight, and \u200ca\u200c facade of economic incentives, Hamas created the impression that it did not want a fight. This attack serves as a stark reminder of the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-abbott-blasts-biden-admin-for-allegedly-cutting-razor-wire-at-border\/\" title=\"Abbott slams Biden admin for cutting border razor wire.\">ongoing challenges \u2064faced<\/a> by both sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A deceptive campaign caught Israel off guard as Hamas launched a devastating attack. Using bulldozers, hang gliders, and motorbikes, they confronted the powerful Israeli army. This Saturday&#8217;s assault marked the most significant breach in Israel&#8217;s defenses since the 1973 Arab war, following two years of preparation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2060313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2060311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2060313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}