Occupied Quds - Saba:
An Israeli military investigation, unveiled Sunday, described the opening moments of the so-called "Zikim" (Al-Aqsa Flood) battle on October 7 as a "massive moral and professional failure" for the IDF.
The report, published by the Israeli website Ynet, stated that fighters from the Golani Brigade (one of the IDF's elite brigades) fled in the first moments of the attack, instead of advancing and fighting, resulting in the deaths of 14 soldiers in the military site's bathroom and shelter.
The investigation revealed that the commander of the naval sector prevented a greater disaster by advancing forces against instructions.
According to Ynet, the investigation revealed a huge gap between the poor performance of the IDF fighters, which contributed to the fatal outcome on the beach, and the rapid performance of the settlement's alert squad, which, according to the report, prevented Hamas fighters from penetrating the kibbutz near the border. Only one civilian was killed during the fighting.
The Ynet website reported that shocking failures were discovered, not only on the part of the soldiers, but also on the part of the officers in charge of the sector, particularly those of the Northern Brigade of the Gaza Division, whose commanders were not removed. The instructions given to the company commander in charge of the sector were to leave the company headquarters in the event of an alarm and run to the shelter. Thus, for nine minutes after the start of the surprise attack at 6:29 a.m. on October 7, the soldier who was supposed to receive radio calls about what was happening in the field and relay reports to the battalion and between the various forces was absent from his post, hiding in the shelter.
According to the investigation, the same Golani Company was involved in other failures, including the horrific malfunction that resulted in the bodies of seven Israelis being forgotten inside a shelter on the beach for a week.
The investigation also revealed gaps in information and critical decision-making by officers during the initial moments of the attack, as well as gaps between the higher tactical levels, such as the brigade commander or his equivalent.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army acknowledged the deaths of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the enemy decided to violate the ceasefire.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday, citing Israeli sources, that two Israeli soldiers were killed and at least four others were injured in a mine explosion in a tunnel in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The sources indicated that the two dead soldiers belonged to the elite Yahalom unit, which specializes in detecting and destroying tunnels.
The Hebrew newspaper quoted sources as saying that a large number of officers and soldiers had informed their commanders of their intention not to commit to combat as part of the expanded Gaza operation.
The Israeli army had asked tens of thousands of reserve soldiers a few days ago to begin preparing to return to combat in Gaza, while a large number of soldiers have recently been evading military service and looking for excuses.
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