The Israeli military will present the lion’s share of its probes into the October 7 massacre between February 25 and March 4, with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi being replaced by incoming chief Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir on March 5.
The first main portion of the probes will deal with the national security concepts for handling Gaza, including: the defense strategy, the multi-billion dollar hi-tech border fence, operational concepts, and developing intelligence, especially in understanding Hamas.
IDF had an over-reliance on Gaza security fence breached on October 7
The probes are expected to find that the military had an over-reliance for security visa vise Gaza on its multi-billion dollar, ultra hi-tech border fence completed in December 2021 after years of work.
From the moment that the fence was completed, many top officials in the security and political establishments believed that Hamas was practically hermetically sealed from being able to cause trouble in Israeli territory.
Moreover, the fence was focused on blocking invasions into Israel using tunnels since after the 2014 Gaza conflict, it was believed that this was the main new threat which Hamas posed to Israel and which the IDF was not ready for.
Little thought was given to a brazen old-fashioned invasion by land which the IDF believed, if Hamas made such a preposterous mistake, would be for it like shooting ducks in a barrel.
Further, the probes will find that there was an over reliance on advance warnings and advanced technology in general to deter and hold back any potential invasion.
It was believed that between drones, aircraft, multidimensional long range technological spying, and a range of short range border sensors and lookouts, that Hamas had no way to surprise Israel and that there would be tons of time to bring a mix of airpower, tank, and troop reinforcements to the border if Hamas was so foolish as to attempt an invasion.
Because of this, the IDF had no real serious second line of defense of troops in place at a sufficient distance from the border to not be caught up in a first wave invasion, but close enough so as to be able to arrive to assist with an invasion in a short period of time.