Hamas is a terrorist organization for Israel and Western governments, but it is also an Islamist movement and a guerrilla that has still captivated the Arab world when it has transcended the meticulousness and brilliance with which it prepared the attack of last October 7.
Several documents that the guerrillas carried on them or left behind during the raid show that it was not a stampede with no let-up or turn, but quite the opposite, a military operation planned down to the last detail that cost the lives of around 1,400 people and injured another 3,400.
The militiamen had first-hand information about Israeli defenses, and no one has yet been able to explain how they got it. Nor, yet, has any authority of the Hebrew State assumed any responsibility for the defensive fiasco. The day before, several units were moved to the West Bank to protect the settlers and Hamas took advantage.
The guerrillas opened 80 holes in the Gaza perimeter fence with explosives and tractors. About 200 militiamen, probably from the Nukba brigade, the elite body of Hamas, launched an attack through these openings.
Ten of these, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and on five motorcycles, headed to the base where Israel manages the surveillance of the more than 72 kilometers of the strip's military siege. Although no sign led there, they knew exactly where it was. In addition, they carried a color-coded map of the base, indicating where each outpost was.
The commando blew open the gate to the base with explosives, killed a soldier in a shirt, had time to take a selfie, located the building where the unit was from where the perimeter of Gaza, he entered without problems because the door was open, killed two soldiers who had been hiding under a bed and destroyed the computers, the brains of the world's most sophisticated defensive fence.
One of the assailants, shot down hours later, was wearing a camera on his head that had filmed it, although Israeli military intelligence has shared with The New York Times.
As the elite commando destroyed the technological core of the Israeli defense, several drones dropped explosives on the watchtowers surrounding the Gaza perimeter. The militiamen recorded the feat on video and posted it on social networks.
In a very short time, the guerrillas had left the army without cameras to see what was happening and without communication to call for reinforcements, thus demonstrating the vulnerability of the most sophisticated military technology to detect the enemy and prevent him from attacking.
Behind the first wave of attackers, about 1,800 more militiamen came out, according to calculations by the Israeli army, which killed about 1,500. Most were on motorbikes and vans, but also on hang gliders and boats. They were organized into groups, each with a very clear mission.
In each group there were navigators, saboteurs and drivers. They also had maps. They knew how to enter the kibbutzim, from which angles it was best to attack them. They had orders to kill the people they found, but also to capture hostages.
Units with mortars guarded the rear to protect the retreat in case of an Israeli counteroffensive, but the army was nowhere to be found. It took hours to arrive and four days to regain control of the area. Dozens of Gazans, who had nothing to do with Hamas, took the opportunity to enter the raided homes and take everything they could: televisions, computers, telephones and microwaves.
Some of the recovered documents are dated October 2022. Hamas planned the operation for at least a year and kept it secret because it did not digitize it, upload any paper to any computer or use cellphones to communicate - if
Israel, without realizing it, leaked vital information. Hamas obtained very accurate estimates of Israeli military strength, location, how long it would take for reinforcements to arrive and where they were most likely to arrive, and positioned groups of guerrillas there.
In a few hours, the militiamen seized eight military bases and fifteen towns, including several kibbutzim. The best army in the Middle East had been defeated by a militia armed with assault rifles, grenade launchers and mortars.
