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Israel's renowned Iron Dome was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Hamas rockets launched from Gaza, which were on a scale no defence system in the world could have dealt with, military analysts have told The National.
An estimated 3,000 rockets were fired, leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured.
Combined with a lack of intelligence and shortage of staff, the inability of the Iron Dome to deal with Hamas's attack strategy left Israel vulnerable.
Although regarded as the world’s leading defensive system, with only 20 rockets in four launchers per battery it would have rapidly exhausted its stockpile during Saturday's strike, with reloading taking some time.
The Iron Dome, which has an estimated 11 batteries, is also designed to prioritise the most threatening missiles – such as ICBM or cruise – over smaller rockets or the microlights used by Hamas.
“This very well co-ordinated attack meant that rather than 10 or 20 rockets being launched from one place into Israeli airspace, this was happening from multiple angles, which makes air defence really hard,” said Sam Cranny-Evans of the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
That it was a Saturday amid the Jewish celebration of Simchat Torah meant even fewer troops were on duty, leading to a slower response time, he added.
The Israeli drones over Gaza, that send co-ordinate targets of Hamas launch sites back to the artillery and air force, would also have been swamped be the sheer volume of the attack.
“It was definitively a surprise but it was also overwhelming, achieving quite a shock effect,” said Mr Cranny-Evans.
“The sheer scale of what was happening overwhelmed their decision-making ability and their ability to understand it.”
Brig Ben Barry, of the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank, said that for the Iron Dome there was “a finite limit to its capacities to knock stuff out of the sky”.
“With thousands of rockets in the air in a very short period of time there is not a single air defence system in the world that's going to be able to cope with that," he said.
By comparison, Russia’s biggest attacks on Ukraine with cruise missiles, rockets and drones amount to about 100 projectiles enabling the defenders to shoot down the vast majority.
Brig Barry, an urban warfare specialist, suggested the intricate Israeli eavesdropping devices and sensors along its 65km barrier may not have failed but were instead also overwhelmed.
“It may be that the Israelis were not present on the fence or in their fortified camps in sufficient strength, and their quick reaction forces couldn't get there quickly enough,” he said.
“The fence is a linear defence and you can have all the sensors and surveillance technology you want but if you can't react to an attempted breach quickly enough, it is redundant.”
At the same time as its rocket attack, Hamas launched a land, air and sea invasion, which temporarily proved too much for Israeli defences.
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Smoke near houses and buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza city. Reuters -
People sleep in a bomb shelter as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Reuters -
Israeli soldiers drive in a tank by Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel. Reuters -
Palestinians inspect the massive destruction following Israeli air strikes on Gaza City's Al Rimal district. AFP -
The abandoned site of the Supernova desert music festival in southern Israel. AFP -
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Reuters -
Palestinians attend a rally in support of Hamas and the Gaza Strip in the West Bank city of Nablus. AP -
A medic tends to an injured child following Israeli air strikes in the Rimal district of Gaza city. Bloomberg -
Injured civilians arrive at a hospital following Israeli airstrikes in the Rimal district of Gaza City. Bloomberg -
Israeli soldiers patrol a road near the border fence with Gaza. AFP -
Palestinians sit among rubbles of a damaged residential building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Gaza city. Reuters -
People gather at the site where a rocket landed in Ashdod, southern Israel. Reuters -
Pictures of Natthaporn On-kaew, 26, a factory worker in Gaza, who has been abducted in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at his house in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Reuters -
A fire burns among the rubble of a damaged residential building in Gaza city. Reuters -
Palestinians view aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Gaza city. EPA -
A Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedic carries a wounded child to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city, following an Israeli air strike. EPA -
People view a sign showing landed and cancelled flights at the arrivals hall at Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, south-east of Tel Aviv. Getty Images -
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Toronto, capital of Canada's Ontario province. AFP -
A rally in support of Israel in Aventura, Florida. AFP -
Israeli soldiers at the funeral of Ili Bar Sade, a soldier killed in an attack by Hamas militants, in Tel Aviv. Reuters -
Lightning strikes as smoke billows following Israeli bombardment of Gaza City. AFP -
A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment of Gaza city. AFP -
Israeli artillery soldiers clean a cannon at an area on the border with Gaza, southern Israel. EPA -
Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli air strike on buildings in the refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip. AFP -
Palestinians assess damage in Gaza city. EPA -
Israeli soldiers cordon off an area after a shooting in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
Palestinians evacuate the area after an Israeli air strike on Al Sousi Mosque in Gaza city. AFP -
A site struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip is evacuated in Ashkelon, southern Israel. AP -
Israeli troops in Merkava tanks take position near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel. AFP -
The heavily hit refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip is littered with debris. AFP -
Israeli soldiers take cover during a missile attack next to the border with Gaza, near Sderot, southern Israel. EPA -
The rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters -
A plume of smoke rises over Gaza city as Israeli air strikes hit. AFP -
Grief at the funeral of Palestinians from the Shamalkh family, who health officials said were killed in Israeli strikes, in Gaza city. Reuters -
Palestinians inspect damaged buildings in the aftermath of Israeli strikes at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza city. Reuters -
A wedding photo in the rubble of a building in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Reuters -
Destruction in Gaza city's Al Shati refugee camp. AFP -
A mosque destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza city. AFP -
A vigil for Israeli victims at the Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles. AFP -
An Israeli soldier directs armoured vehicles heading towards the border with the Gaza Strip. Getty Images -
A burnt out car from a battle between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters in Sderot. Getty Images -
A police station that was destroyed in Sderot. Getty Images -
A missile explodes in Gaza city. AFP
“Hamas performed exceptionally well in all aspects of their planning, intelligence gathering and execution,” said Michael Stevens, a leading British authority on the Middle East.
“It was a well masterminded but extremely brutal attack.”
Israel’s autonomous heavy-machinegun towers, designed to open fire on border incursions automatically, were also targeted by Hamas drones dropping grenades in a similar tactic used by Ukraine on Russian tanks.
A source connected to Israeli intelligence told The National that Hamas had also allegedly “deliberately created tension” in the West Bank town of Huwara to draw troops from guarding the Gaza Strip.
“This resulted in some troops being moved from what was perceived as a quiet front that meant that of three battalions that normally surround Gaza, only one was present and the other two were in Huwara,” the source said.
Mr Stevens said that violence in the occupied West Bank forced Israel to “divert resources of several battalions away from Gaza that should have been in Gaza”.
He also suggested the catastrophic intelligence failure was a result of Israel’s current political infighting that had affected its security agencies.
“There has been increasing competition inside security ministries for roles and access to certain positions that are now been dominated by political players,” he said.
“Israeli [intelligence] has dropped a little bit qualitatively as a result of its domestic political failings.”
Meanwhile, Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel, said "everything" went wrong in dealing with Hamas’s attack.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Yatom said not enough forces were deployed due to a failure of intelligence, which came on top of years of policies that had allowed Hamas to galvanise.
“Nobody had any clue that on 6.30am on Saturday, 50 years and one day after the total surprise that we were caught under in the Yom Kippur War, we would witness it again,” he said.
