'Grave miscalculation': Why were Israel's intelligence services blindsided by Gaza attack?

Multiple failures occurred before Hamas's unprecedented assault, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Israeli army told Euronews.

Transcript

00:00 Rockets from Gaza raining down on cities, hundreds of Hamas militants massacring soldiers

00:07 and civilians in Israel and taking more than 100 hostages. It`s a nightmare come true and

00:13 made possible by three catastrophic failures, according to Peter Lerner, an Israeli national

00:18 security expert.

00:19 A overconfidence in the military`s understanding of the defense mechanisms that exist, whether

00:29 it`s the Iron Dome or the barrier that was completed a couple of years ago and there

00:34 was full faith in the ability to prevent subterranean attacks. The lack of intelligence and ultimately

00:43 the failure of the defensive line itself. So you have these three circles of defense

00:48 that did not do what they should have.

00:53 Israel`s intelligence service is world renowned, but its conclusions did not help to prevent

00:57 the attacks.

00:58 Just a few weeks ago, senior defense officials and intelligence officials were saying that

01:04 Hamas is not interested in a widespread conflict, precisely because of previous conflicts that

01:11 they`re still licking their wounds, precisely because they want to maintain and rule the

01:15 Gaza Strip and not put that rule at threat. This is obviously a miscalculation, a grave

01:21 miscalculation of the intelligence community.

01:25 Lerner believes the army will move cautiously with hostages still held in Gaza. And once

01:31 the war against Hamas is over, he expects a thorough investigation into security failings

01:36 before Israel`s equivalent of 9/11.

01:39 [Whoosh]