News Summary

• Netanyahu had received repeated warnings by his defense chiefs, as well as several former leaders of the country’s intelligence agencies, that the divisive plan was chipping away at the cohesion of the country’s security services..
• Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, said that without a foothold inside Gaza, Israel’s security services have come to rely increasingly on technological means to gain intelligence..
• But they underestimated such warnings,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media.Israel has also been preoccupied and torn apart by Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan..
• Over 48 hours later, Hamas militants continued to battle Israeli forces inside Israeli territory, and dozens of Israelis were in Hamas captivity in Gaza.“This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu..
• “This operation actually proves that the (intelligence) abilities in Gaza were no good.”Amidror declined to offer an explanation for the failure, saying lessons must be learned when the dust settles.Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, acknowledged the army owes the public an explanation..
• “The results are catastrophic.”Allies who share intelligence with Israel said security agencies were misreading reality..