Search ‘Ofakim’ and you will discover that it is a town of 30,000 people in Israel. A story in The New York Times (NYT) of 26 October describes the terrible events that happened there when Hamas terrorists arrived in the early morning and carried out a spree of murder for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours; a whole day for residents of cowering in their homes and shelters, on roofs and catching glimpses of their fellow residents: young and old alike, being dragged from their houses and shot at point blank range. But these events were reported in the French weekly broadsheet newspaper Le Monde Sélection Hebdomadaire of 14 October. Why is the NYT so behind the curve?
You might imagine that Ofakim is on the Israel-Gaza border but no. It is 25.8km from the border with Gaza, apparently the furthest point reached by the Hamas terrorists.
Reading the two page spread in the French weekly broadsheet newspaper Le Monde Sélection Hebdomadaire of 14 October is revealing. When the killers arrived at 6:30am the residents initially thought they were ‘Tsahal’—the Hebrew colloquialism for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)—which, in itself may be revealing. Of course, it may simply explain why they were able to penetrate so far into Israel. Then the shooting started, and families took shelter until five and a half hours later at midday, to emerge into what they thought was safety.
However, as reported in Le Monde, ‘Ce n’est pas fini’ (it was not finished). The killers returned and ‘Pendant vingt-quarte heures, ils sont semé la terreur’ (for nearly 24 hours they sowed terror).
Recent reports, such as the one in NYT focus on how local residents and police officers, armed only with pistols were able to slow down the progress of the terrorists. Such heroism is not the focus of the Le Monde article and may only be ‘emerging’ now. What is reported in Le Monde is the fact that IDF reservists did not arrive until ‘au soir’ (in the evening) and then only in lorries and personal cars.
According to The New York Times one IDF soldier was spotted early in the day, wounded, by residents who thought the saviours had come but he said he was alone and had come from home. One resident said then: “I realized that we were on our own…Like rabbits at a shooting range.”
Eventually calm returned, gunmen holding a group of hostages were killed and that particular group of hostages freed.
Three questions arise:
-How did Hamas manage to get so far into Israel?
-Why were they able to stay for 24 hours (ie where were the IDF)?
-Why was this reported in Le Monde in the week after it happened (but only now it The New York Times)?
It is not clear from reading reports on the day and subsequently whether any terrorists escaped and if hostages from Ofakim are being held in Gaza. But if they did, a fourth question arises: how did they manage to travel the 25.8km back to Gaza?
Roger Watson is a retired academic nurse who lives in the UK.
He is currently engaged in a range of professional consultancies in the UK, Europe and China. He writes regularly for several outlets including The Daily Sceptic, The European Conservative, Country Squire Magazine and The New Conservative.
