Israel's 'finite' Iron Dome 'unable to deal with scale' of Hamas attack

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According to military analysts, the amount of rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas was so massive that even Israel's renowned Iron Dome could not handle them. No defence system in the world could have defended against so many rockets.

Around 3,000 rockets were launched, resulting in the deaths of hundreds and leaving thousands more with injuries.

Israel was left exposed due to the Iron Dome's failure to address Hamas' attack approach, as well as a scarcity of resources and cognitive ability.

Despite its reputation as the top-notch defense mechanism on the planet, the system could have run out of ammunition fairly quickly during the attack last Saturday due to having only 20 rockets distributed among four launchers per battery. Moreover, it would take some time to refill the launchers.

The Iron Dome consists of around 11 batteries and can distinguish between the level of threat posed by different types of missiles. It focuses on intercepting high-risk missiles like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) or cruise missiles, rather than smaller rockets or microlights, which are commonly used by groups like Hamas.

Sam Cranny-Evans, from the Royal United Services Institute think tank, stated that the attack was skillfully planned. Instead of launching 10 or 20 rockets from a single location into Israeli airspace, the rockets were coming from multiple directions, which made air defence extremely challenging.

On a Jewish holiday called Simchat Torah, which happened to fall on a Saturday, there were even less soldiers available to respond quickly, causing delays.

The drones from Israel that transmit information about Hamas launch locations to their artillery and air force in Gaza would have been overloaded due to the high number of attacks.

Mr Cranny-Evans stated that it was undoubtedly unexpected and also quite intense, creating a significant impact.

The sheer enormity of the situation subdued their capacity to make choices and to comprehend it.

According to Brig Ben Barry, a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank, the Iron Dome has a limited ability to destroy objects in the air.

According to him, when there are numerous rockets launched within a brief span of time, there isn't any air defense mechanism present on this planet that can handle the situation.

In contrast, the most significant strikes launched by Russia against Ukraine involved nearly 100 cruise missiles, rockets, and drones. However, the defenders were able to successfully intercept and shoot down the majority of these projectiles.

According to urban warfare expert Brig Barry, the highly detailed eavesdropping devices and sensors used by Israel along its 65km barrier may not have malfunctioned, but could have simply been overpowered.

He stated that it is possible that the Israelis were not adequately positioned on the fence or in their secure bases, and their rapid response teams were unable to arrive at the location promptly.

The barrier serves as a straight form of protection and even if you equip it with every sensor and surveillance tool possible, it becomes useless if you can't respond to a breach attempt in a timely manner.

While conducting a rocket attack, Hamas initiated a simultaneous offensive utilizing their land, air, and sea forces, which initially overwhelmed the Israeli defense.

During the Israeli attack on Gaza city, a massive explosion occurred, resembling a ball of fire. This was captured by AFP photographers and has been circulating across the internet.

Michael Stevens, a prominentexpert on Middle Eastern affairs from Britain, stated that Hamas did a remarkable job in all aspects of their strategic planning, gathering of intelligence, and implementation.

The assault was carefully planned but excessively cruel.

Hamas drones have recently targeted Israel's unmanned heavy-machinegun towers. These towers are equipped with automatic firing capability to deal with border incursions. Similarly, Ukraine used a comparable technique of deploying grenades from drones on Russian tanks.

According to an insider linked with Israeli intelligence, Hamas purportedly instigated unrest in the town of Huwara in the West Bank on purpose to divert soldiers from protecting Gaza.

According to the source, there was a rearrangement of troops that caused some soldiers to be transferred from a supposedly peaceful area. As a consequence, out of the three battalions that typically encircle Gaza, only a single one remained, while the remaining two had been relocated to Huwara.

According to Mr. Stevens, the occurrence of violent events in the West Bank, which is currently under Israeli occupation, caused a necessity for Israel to allocate resources from various battalions, which were intended for Gaza, to the West Bank.

He offered the idea that the intelligence failure of calamitous proportions was caused by Israel's ongoing political strife, which had impacted its security organizations.

According to him, there is an escalating rivalry within security departments for job opportunities and entry to specific positions which are currently under the control of political officials.

Israel's intelligence has decreased in terms of quality due to its internal political shortcomings.

In the meantime, Danny Yatom, who was once in charge of the Mossad, which is Israel's national intelligence organization, stated that everything went awry when it comes to handling Hamas' assault.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today show, Mr. Yatom expressed that inadequate military forces were dispatched because of a breakdown in intelligence. This was worsened by numerous policies over the years that had enabled Hamas to become more active.

He said that nobody had an idea that there would be a similar occurrence like the one we experienced during the Yom Kippur War, exactly 50 years and a day after that day, at about 6:30 am on Saturday.

Rewritten: As of 5:58 PM on October 9, 2023, the following information has been modified in the blog section.