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ABC has an article on the IDf’s Unit 414 which monitored cross-border activity in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Stationed at the Nahal Oz IDF base, less than half a mile from Gaza, they were known as “the eyes of the military”– monitoring hundreds of surveillance cameras overlooking the border, 24\/7. They were always watching and always on high alert.<\/p>\n
“It felt like something out of the ordinary was about to happen,” said Roni Lifshitz, an observation soldier who was part of Unit 414 but happened to be away at a training on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack on Israel.<\/p>\n
According to Lifshitz, in the days leading up to Oct. 7, her unit was reporting unusual activity in Gaza on a daily basis — so much so that she says there was apparently a running joke on base: Who would be on duty the day Hamas attacked?<\/p>\n
Her account lines up with what Ori Asaf said he heard from his girlfriend, Sgt. Osher Barzilay, a communications officer who was killed inside the Nahal Oz command center. Asaf showed ABC News text messages Barzilay sent him just two weeks before Oct 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the violent disturbances and incendiary balloons are in our sector,\u201d Barzilay wrote. “3 violent disturbances, people armed with weapons and explosives. The fence is destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asaf said Barzilay couldn’t tell him everything, since much of the information was classified. But he said she repeatedly told him she saw Hamas burying explosives near the border.<\/p>\n
Lifshitz said the warning signs were there, but those at the top didn’t take them seriously.<\/p>\n
“We were completely ignored, they belittled us,” she said. “No one really listened to us, mainly because I am not an officer. Because I am just a simple 20-year-old who knows nothing.”<\/p>\n
Last November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News: \u201cThe responsibility of a government is to protect the people. Clearly, that responsibility wasn\u2019t met. And we\u2019ll have a lot of questions, a lot of investigations. But I have now one responsibility. The responsibility is to defeat Hamas.”<\/p>\n
Eyal Eshel heard similar stories from his daughter Roni Eshel, who was also part of Unit 414, and Roni Lifshitz’s best friend. She was just 19.<\/p>\n
“‘Dad, the cameras on the fence, in this point, are not working. Dad, there is a problem in the fence here.’ Nobody came to fix it,” he said.<\/p>\n
In a chilling phone conversation obtained exclusively by ABC News, Roni Eshel can be heard telling her mother Sharon on Sept. 27 that she’s overwhelmed by what she’s seeing.<\/p>\n
“Listen, three days in a row, attempted infiltrations, today there was an attack at Karni, explosive devices,” she said.<\/p>\n
Eyal Eshel took ABC News inside what’s left of the Nahal Oz base, and into the command center where his daughter would have watched Hamas’ incursion, reporting it in real time \u2014 until their cameras were neutralized.<\/p>\n
When over a hundred Hamas fighters eventually reached the base, they set the command center on fire. Many of the young observation soldiers were trapped inside and burned alive.<\/p>\n
“They didn\u2019t find dog tags, they didn\u2019t find bodies,” said Eshel. “[They found] pieces. You can understand what I\u2019m saying. Pieces.”<\/p>\n
Fifteen of the observation soldiers were killed, according to Israeli officials. Seven were taken hostage, as seen in footage released by the hostages’ families, handcuffed and bloodied. Five remain in Gaza to this day, according to Israeli officials.\u00a0 ABC News<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The article notes that the soldiers in the observation center were unarmed, and when they called for help were told no one was available to help. Sounds like the IDF chain of command has some serious explaining to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"