Operation Swords of Iron: Israel’s response to Hamas’ surprise attack in the south of the country

Gastón Dubois

Defence

During the morning of October 7, the Palestinian jihadist organization Hamas launched more than 3000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. In parallel, several hundred fighters infiltrated southern Israel by land, sea and air to attack all types of Israeli military and civilian targets, as well as to capture citizens to take them hostage for future negotiations with Jerusalem. This was a massive and unprecedented surprise attack in the long and violent history between Israel and Palestine. In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched «Operation Swords of Iron».

Multi-domain attack and lessons learned from the war in Ukraine

As an «opening» to the war actions, a saturation rocket attack was carried out from the Gaza Strip, which proved to be much more effective than had been seen so far. Some rockets managed to hit Israeli cities and towns, even damaging Israel’s second most important power plant, Rutenberg, successfully overcoming the defenses of the Iron Dome system.

Meanwhile, the land, sea and air assault by Hamas operatives on Israeli territory was taking place, with so many troops and from so many avenues of approach, that they were able to overwhelm the heavily guarded Israeli border defenses.

Taken directly from the lessons of the war in Ukraine, Hamas effectively used its drones to attack Israeli strong positions and vehicles in areas where its troops were to infiltrate.

The effectiveness of the planning of these military actions allowed the Palestinian fighters to temporarily take control of a very significant territorial extension in the surrounding areas of the Gaza Strip, within which there were Israeli Army bases, which were seized.

Operation Swords of Iron

Reacting quickly after the initial surprise, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation «Swords of Iron», whose main objectives are the expulsion of Palestinian fighters from southern Israeli towns and cities and the destruction of Hamas forces, military capabilities and command centers.

Dozens of Israeli Air Force fighters attacked several targets of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, including military compounds and command centers.

Within hours of the IDF military response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas, with the aim of expelling the hostile forces that infiltrated its territory, imposing a «huge price on the enemy, also inside the Gaza Strip» and reinforcing the other fronts (particularly the border with Lebanon) to discourage the participation of other hostile forces in the new Israeli-Palestinian war.

The images provided by the Israeli Armed Forces also show an intensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters, either for the offensive operations themselves or for the deployment of troops.

The Israeli Armed Forces warn Palestinians in Gaza to leave certain areas that will be attacked by its warplanes.

The level of deployment, coordination, inventiveness and magnitude of this attack by Hamas armed forces against Israel, coupled with its total surprise, is completely unprecedented and its effectiveness will be reflected in the depth, forcefulness and duration of Israel’s military response, which, according to Israel’s senior military commanders, will be extremely harsh.

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