Hamas blindsides Israel with most serious attack in a generation - Jeremy Bowen
www.bbc.com
Risk of flare-up between Palestinian militants and Israel has been deepening for months, writes Jeremy Bowen.

Israel was taken by surprise by the most ambitious operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza.

The scale of what’s been happening is unprecedented. Hamas breached the wire that separates Gaza from Israel in multiple places in the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a generation.

It came a day after the 50th anniversary of the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973 that started a major Middle East war. The significance of the date will not have been lost on the Hamas leadership.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is at war and will exact a heavy price from its enemies.

Videos and photos of dead Israelis, civilians as well as soldiers, are all over social media.

  • bobman@unilem.orgEnglish
    95·
    1 year ago

    I mean, letting your guard down on a holy day isn’t really an excuse.

    This is not the first time they’ve attacked on a Jewish holy day. It’s entirely intentional.

    Then… they should’ve been better prepared for this? I don’t get your point.

    • danhakimi@kbin.social
      54·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, they should have, and to some extent they were. I don’t think they “let their guard down,” but I’m not in the IDF, I don’t know how many people take the day off on shabbat or on simchat torah, I’m just saying that this was very intentional timing. It is, to the day, the 50 year anniversary of the Yom Kippur war.