Israel National News
One of the most glaring failures during the October 7 Hamas invasion was the lack of an immediate aerial response as thousands of Hamas fighters poured across the Gaza border into southern Israel.
An investigative report aired Tuesday night on Channel 12 News revealed that at 7:40 a.m., one hour and 11 minutes after the attack began, then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi ordered the Air Force to strike high-value ‘psychological impact targets’ deep inside Gaza, such as tall buildings and broadcast stations while Hamas righters were simultaneously rampaging through Israeli communities.
Simultaneously, instead of engaging the Hamas fighters that had crossed into Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes against top Hamas leaders, and Southern Command declared the launch of ‘Operation Sword of Damocles,’ aimed at striking Hamas leadership assets and infrastructure.
However, the military directive ‘Parash Pleshet,’ which was supposed to mobilize the Gaza Division into full emergency posture, was only partially implemented. Many Air Force strikes continued to focus on Hamas tunnel infrastructure instead of targeting the hundreds of fighters that had infiltrated Israeli territory.
As a result, the few aircraft available on the morning of the attack were not used to engage the ground threat effectively.
According to an IDF internal investigation published in February, Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar did not participate in security consultations on the night of October 6, resulting in the Air Force being unprepared for a ground invasion scenario. As late as 3:30 a.m. on October 7, only one UAV was redirected from Judea and Samaria to Gaza, and just two drones were operational over the Strip in the hours leading up to the attack.
At 6:29 a.m., when the infiltration began, the Air Force was still operating under normal peacetime protocol and it was not until 7:10 a.m. that the Air Force commander declared a state of war, by which point over 1,000 Hamas Nukhba fighters had already breached the border and were attacking Israeli communities.