What the Hamas Attack Looks Like From Tel Aviv

A police officer walks near a destroyed police station in Sderot, Israel, on Oct. 8, 2023. Amir Levy/Getty Images

On Oct. 7, Hamas initiated coordinated assaults on various targets within Israel. The precise number of casualties is presently undetermined, but there have been confirmations of 1,100 dead, many of them civilians.

Jonathan Bluestein, an Israeli citizen and a former master sergeant in the police department, with academic degrees in law and political science, shared his perspectives on the attacks from his location in the vicinity of Tel Aviv.

The reality of life in Israel is that terrorist attacks happen from time to time. According to Mr. Bluestein, alarms will sound, warning citizens to go to the nearest shelter. “But sometimes we can’t reach a shelter, so then we get to see the rockets.” And afterward, he said that most citizens just get on with their lives, shopping, going to school or to work, unafraid.

However, in his opinion, this attack, which is being called the largest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, was different for three reasons: scale, tenacity, and ferocity.

The scale of the attacks is unprecedented, given the number of dead, the number of captives taken (at least 100), and the fact that 27 different locations were attacked, the BBC reported. Among the many targets hit, according to official reports, 260 civilian fatalities have been confirmed in the vicinity of a music festival. Mr. Bluestein described the situation, stating that when Hamas arrived at the festival, many of the attendees were intoxicated and fatigued after a night of revelry.

Their only option for escape was an open field, where they became vulnerable and were tragically subjected to gunfire. Video footage shows hostages being led away, with their hands tied behind their backs or forced onto the backs of motorcycles.

Extreme Brutality

Regarding the aspect of ferocity, Mr. Bluestein is alluding to the extreme level of brutality exhibited by Hamas terrorists in videos that are circulating on various Arab social media platforms. While it’s a known practice for Hamas to share videos illustrating their actions, the sheer volume of disturbing content appearing on platforms like Twitter and Telegram is both extensive and deeply unsettling. There are videos of hostage takings, killings, beheadings, and corpses being defiled. Some videos show Hamas members beating, stomping, and dancing on the dead. In one video, a Hamas terrorist is shown attempting to decapitate an elderly Israeli man with a shovel.

Female soldiers comprise about 33 percent of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and there is at least one video of a female IDF soldier being pulled by her hair as she is taken prisoner. Mr. Bluestein explained that Hamas does not usually rape female prisoners, but many videos depict both female and male corpses being stripped naked. There is at least one reported case of a female soldier being raped.

In previous incidents, the individuals taken captive were primarily soldiers. However, in this recent attack, Hamas has captured a significant number of civilians, including children and the elderly. It is believed that some foreigners, including Americans, are among those who have lost their lives. Furthermore, the group of prisoners comprises at least one Thai citizen, 17 Nepalis, and several other foreign nationals.

The question at hand pertains to how Hamas managed to breach Israel’s defenses in what is considered the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Rockets are fired from Gaza toward Israel, in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023. Mohammed Salem/Reuters

How It Happened

Several key factors contributed to this event.

Firstly, the timing of the attack on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath and a holy festival day, was chosen strategically. During this period, fewer people would be at work, and individuals would generally be in a more relaxed state, potentially letting their guard down.

Secondly, Hamas has openly acknowledged that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, played a role in planning and approving the attack. U.S. officials continue to grapple with uncertainty regarding the extent of Iran’s potential involvement. According to Mr. Bluestein, it is his conviction that Iranian involvement will ultimately reveal itself to be more significant than initially thought. He points to previous instances of Tehran launching hacking attacks against Israel as evidence. Furthermore, he posits that Iranian hackers may have effectively breached the censor grid, thus facilitating Hamas’ assault on border stations.

Once inside Israeli territory and after killing the border guards, Hamas terrorists went settlement to settlement, house to house, indiscriminately killing and capturing civilians. Mr. Bluestein said that many homes in Israel have a safe room, where families can take refuge when they come under attack. However, citizens are not permitted to own firearms, so most had no way of defending themselves.

Leaders from various parts of the world have responded to the attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated “We are at war” and promptly initiated an offensive into Gaza, resulting in the loss of more than 300 lives. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei took to Twitter to celebrate the Hamas attack on Israel and reiterated Iran’s objective of eliminating Israel.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement saying that the United States stands by Israel. China refrained from condemning the Hamas attack and called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured that the United States would supply Israel with the necessary weaponry for self-defense and deployed U.S. ships and military assets to the region.