An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigation has revealed that Hamas militants who launched the October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel mistakenly struck the wrong military base because of a navigation error.
The probe found that a group of 10 Hamas operatives traveling on five motorcycles intended to reach a sensitive military intelligence facility approximately 16 kilometers from the Gaza border. However, they took a wrong turn at Urim Junction, ultimately assaulting the adjacent Home Front Command base instead.
The unexpected attack on the Home Front Command base lasted roughly three hours and resulted in the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers and several injuries. The militants infiltrated the base by detonating an explosive device on the eastern fence early in the morning at 7:26 AM before commencing their assault.
The Urim base complex houses the Home Front Command's Southern District headquarters, the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit, and Unit 8200 of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Israel's primary signals and cyber intelligence unit. Hamas had specifically targeted Unit 8200's intelligence facility but mistakenly focused their attack on the Home Front Command installation due to their navigation error.
At the time of the attack, only seven soldiers were on guard duty instead of the full complement of 12, attributed to holiday staffing reductions. Despite limited resources, Israeli soldiers mounted a robust defense, ultimately thwarting Hamas’s original objective.
During the attack, militants killed several soldiers including Corporals Lior Levy and Ofir Davidian, Sergeant Itamar Ayash, Sergeant Major Aharon Farash, Captain Alina Pravosudova, Sergeant Shir Shlomo, and Sergeant Danit Cohen. Intense close-quarter combat ensued as the terrorists breached multiple steel doors and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the command center.
Remarkably, the militants spent about ten minutes inside the command center searching for classified intelligence before leaving, unaware they had targeted the wrong facility.
Reinforcements from nearby units arrived starting at 8:15 AM, engaging in prolonged combat with the attackers. The confrontation ended at 10:40 AM when Israeli forces eliminated the last militants hiding inside a bomb shelter.
The investigation, led by Colonel Asher Benishti over 18 months, utilized diverse sources including terrorists' own footage, soldiers’ text communications, surveillance video, and radio transmissions to reconstruct the events.
This probe contributes to a series of reports analyzing how approximately 5,000 militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched coordinated assaults on Israeli border communities and military positions on October 7. These attacks exposed vulnerabilities including intelligence failures and command breakdowns amid overwhelming militant numbers.
The investigation concluded that Israeli military intelligence had misread Hamas’s intentions for years and misinterpreted intelligence prior to the attack, partly due to a focus on broader regional threats from Iran and Hezbollah.
While military probes have focused on operational and intelligence shortcomings, political leadership decisions have not been examined. Calls for a broader public inquiry have been met with resistance from government officials.
Casualties from the attacks were severe, with over 1,180 people killed and more than 250 abducted as hostages. Many of the hostages remain missing or confirmed dead.
