Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel was meant to bring war

In the early hours of this morning, Israelis had a flashback to the surprise attack of the Yom Kippur War that started almost 50 years ago to the day, in October 1973. Hamas says it has launched 5,000 missiles deep into Israeli territory. The missiles were used to mask a much more elaborate attack that saw dozens of Hamas terrorists, dressed in uniform and — according to reports on Israeli media — heavily armed with machine guns and grenades, invade Israeli territory. The terrorists entered towns and villages by foot, paraglides and vehicles. Fighting between Israeli security services and the terrorists has gone on for hours, with reports of dead, injured and kidnapped soldiers and civilians.

The intensity and complexity of this attack is unusual for Hamas. Its success is largely due to the surprise by which it took Israel, indicating serious failures by Israel’s intelligence services and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that will have to be reviewed when the dust settles.