Interrogations of Hamas Nukhba terrorists, along with documental and technical intelligence collected by Hamas, paint a grim picture of the organization’s intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities.
In investigations conducted by Unit 504 of Israel’s Intelligence Division, it has been revealed the extent to which Hamas prepared an extensive intelligence infrastructure ahead of its October 7 attacks, including detailed reports on the IDF’s activity in bases and various locations across the country.
Israel Police and Shin Bet release footage of terrorist interrogations detailing the events of October 7, 2023 (CREDIT: SHIN BET AND ISRAEL POLICE).
According to a military source, Hamas successfully mapped the locations of the Gaza border settlements, military bases, and IDF positions and then trained and focused the Nukhba terrorists on the weak points of all these sites.
They infiltrated Israel, knowing exactly which areas were under less surveillance, where there are observation posts and issues, where the dining rooms and sleeping quarters are located, etc. The same military source claims that Nukhba terrorists knew about the security vulnerabilities of an IDF base located kilometers away from the border.
Another military source reveals that some of the Hamas terrorists held a video of the server room and bunker of a unit in the Intelligence Corps they intended to attack. Specific computers to be taken from the server room were marked in the video.
The IDF holds a rough estimate that the information about those computers reached the terrorists intentionally from an Iranian source.
“The level of their awareness about that Intelligence Corps base in the western Negev slipped us, they knew exactly what they wanted to achieve,” explained one of the military sources. “It’s amazing to understand the level of their intent before the war. This could be the result of many reasons.”
It was also revealed in the investigation that Nukhba terrorists received clear instructions to attach technological means between antennas and communication lines of the IDF throughout the Gaza Division. Military sources claim that Hamas likely intended to eavesdrop on the encrypted communication systems of the Gaza Division and Israeli forces in the sector.
Factors in the IDF sharply criticize the breakdown of the defenses of bases and positions near the country’s borders. Signs of a breakdown are found, among other things, in the recent attack in June on the border with Egypt, in which an Egyptian police officer broke through the defenses of the IDF and killed Sgt. Lia Ben Nun, St.-Sgt. Uri Itzhak Ilouz and St.-Sgt. Ohad Dahan.
IDF to improve defenses
According to estimates, the field of defense and information security in the IDF will undergo a fundamental change in the coming year, which will require the army to rethink its approach and fundamentally change its ways of handling this issue.
Meanwhile, the IDF has decided to immediately introduce initial security measures, among them strengthening the security level of buildings located at a significant distance from the border. It was also decided to re-examine the security and defense system at the Intelligence Corps’ Kiryat Modi’in near Lakiya, which is currently under construction.
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