The army’s “complete failure” of preventing the attack on October 7, 2023, speaks an internal investigation by the Israeli army, one military official said on the occasion of the publication of the conclusions of this investigation today.

“October 7 (2023) was a complete failure, the Israeli army did not fulfill its mission to protect Israeli civilians,” the official said not to be named.

“Too many civilians died that day and many wonder within them or loudly where the Israeli army was,” he added.

The Israeli army could not “imagine a scenario” like that of October 7, the official stressed, saying that the army did not know how to prevent the attack that day.

“We had not even imagined such a scenario,” the military official said, adding that Palestinian fighters under the leadership of Hamas surprised Israel, not only because of the scale and extent of the attack, but also because of its “barbarism”.

The Israeli army failed due to “over -confidence” as well as because of its wrong image of Hamas’ military capabilities before October 7, 2023, he continued. As he said, the army did not have a “good knowledge of the enemy’s military potential” and was “overweight”.

The unprecedented attack of Hamas of that day occurred by three consecutive waves is emphasized in the investigation, emphasizing that more than 5,000 people passed to Israel from the Gaza Strip that day.

“The first wave (…) included more than 1,000 Nukba terrorists (Hamas Select Unit) who penetrated under heavy fires,” said a summary of the army’s investigation. A second wave included 2,000 fighters, the investigation continues, and a third wave was made with hundreds of even hundreds, as well as many thousands of civilians. “Overall, about 5,000 terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory during the attack,” the internal investigation said.