As the IDF investigates the failures of the October 7 massacre, senior Navy officers say that critical intelligence information about Hamas’ plan to invade Zikim Beach was withheld from them, Walla reported. Navy officers say they were unprepared for the attack because they were not made aware of the naval appendix of the “Walls of Jericho” document, which detailed Hamas’s military wing’s plans for an attack on Israel via land, air, and sea. According to senior sources in the Navy, commanders were not briefed on the intelligence information despite the fact that the naval Nukhba unit was considered Hamas’s most elite commando force. The investigation excoriated the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) and the Navy Intelligence Division (MADAN) for failing to provide the necessary warnings. Senior sources in the IDF described the lack of information as: “a black hole.” Officers familiar with the investigation told Walla that in the pre-dawn hours of October 7, while Nukhba naval terrorists were about to infiltrate Israel via Zikim beach, the Navy failed to receive any alerts from Military Intelligence or the Operations Directorate. The only warning they received was from the commander of the Gaza Division, Brig.-Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, who called the commander of the Ashdod naval base, Col. Eitan Paz, at 4 a.m. and informed him that there was vague intelligence regarding something happening in the Gaza Strip, but he had no additional information. Paz then called the Navy headquarters at the Kirya in Tel Aviv but was told that there were no unusual developments. Fortunately, Paz didn’t fully believe the information he received from the Kirya. He raised the alert level and called commanders at their homes, ordering them to report to their bases immediately. His quick actions led to the Navy successfully intercepting most of the boats full of Nukhah naval commandos before reaching Israel, saving countless lives. The Navy’s 16th Patrol Squadron sunk three of the Hamas boats and Snapir unit commandos neutralized the Hamas survivors in the water. However, one boat with 11 armed terrorists reached Zikim Beach. Two or three were killed by naval gunfire after landing on the beach but the remaining terrorists began shooting civilians on the beach, brutally murdering 19 civilians and leaving dozens wounded on the beach. The terrorists then approached a nearby IDF base, where a fierce gun battle ensued between IDF commanders and the terrorists. Almost all the IDF commanders, eight in total, were killed. The remaining six terrorists then headed to Kibbutz Zikkim. The civilian security squad on the kibbutz had been alerted to the infiltration and its members were standing guard at the kibbutz fence. They opened fire as the terrorists approached. After an intense hour-long gun battle, the terrorists were finally eliminated. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)