Tel Aviv, Oct 8 (IANS): A compilation of clips released by Hamas on Sunday showed how the terror group says it burst across the border and invaded southern Israel on Saturday, unleashing a vast, murderous attack, killing at least 600 civilians and soldiers, and kidnapping dozens more to the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported.
The clips, broadcast by Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV channel on Sunday afternoon, purport to show that Hamas first bombed Israeli military observation towers and weapons systems on the border using drones, Times of Israel reported.
The footage shows drones dropping explosive devices onto the IDF targets at the Gaza border.
Next, the terror group fired hundreds of rockets at southern and central Israel, as terrorists on paragliders flew over the border, Times of Israel reported.
Moments later, Hamas approached the border fence, blew up holes in it using large explosive devices, and allowed hundreds of terrorists to infiltrate into Israel, many of them in trucks and motorcycles, the report said.
The fence was breached in numerous places, and remained porous long after the initial infiltration, enabling further large numbers to cross from Gaza.
The terrorists then attacked Israeli army posts along the border, and nearby communities. Hamas also attempted to infiltrate via the sea, but Navy forces repelled the attack, killing dozens of terrorists.
Hundreds of gunmen infiltrated into Israel, some in pickup trucks, many heavily armed, in an onslaught experts have said was clearly carefully prepared. They swept through numerous towns, kibbutzim and moshavim, massacring hundreds of Israelis, holding many hostages inside Israel for hours, and abducting numerous Israeli civilians of all ages and soldiers to Gaza as hostages, Times of Israel reported.
The footage appears to underline the extent of Israel’s military and intelligence failures in the lead-up to the onslaught, with Israel havingreopenedthe Erez border crossing into Gaza on September 28 despite ongoing riots and violence on the border, apparently assessing that the situation at the border was under control, and preferring not to continue to bar 17,000 Gazans with work permits from Israel.