News Service from House Harris

MID: Secrecy and careful planning preceded Israeli onslaught

JERUSALEM, Dec 28 AFP - Israel took extraordinary care to lull Hamas into a sense of complacency ahead of its deadly air campaign against the Islamists in their Gaza Strip stronghold, officials and media said on Sunday.

Disinformation and secrecy were essential elements that Israel took in the week before the bombardment to coax Hamas into believing that no major attack was imminent, they said.

When militants pounded Israel with some 70 rockets and mortar rounds on Wednesday - the largest bombardment since before an Israeli-Hamas truce took effect in June - Israel held its fire.

The security cabinet met for five hours that day, but did not issue a statement afterwards, leading Hamas to mock the government "that holds meetings to discuss decisions to take to stop the rockets" while militants "bombard (Israeli territory) with dozens of mortars and rockets".

On Thursday Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed to strike back at the group while on a visit to Egypt, but still the Israeli military took no action.

On Friday, Defence Minister Ehud Barak eased the Israeli blockade of the territory, allowing in dozens of truckloads of humanitarian supplies in what a senior official in his office told AFP was a calculated ruse.

"Allowing the humanitarian aid into Gaza was also meant to act as a deception against Hamas and give them the sense that the operation wasn't imminent," the official said.

Also on Friday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office took care to repeatedly tell journalists that the Israeli cabinet would meet on Sunday to discuss any major operation in Gaza.

That announcement prompted widespread speculation that the attack would not come before Sunday.

Finally, Israel's Southern Command was sent on leave on Friday.

"Hamas was watching and listening," the Haaretz daily said, adding that the rulers of Gaza tracked the army's movements and took the bait, believing that no assault was imminent.

"Hamas evacuated all its headquarters personnel after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday," one defence official told Haaretz. "But the organisation sent its people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until Sunday."

Further adding to the element of surprise, the operation was launched on the Jewish Sabbath.

"The decision to attack on Saturday was a stroke of brilliance: Israel isn't supposed to start wars on the Sabbath. The element of surprise increased the number of people who were killed," the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot said.

Thus when some 60 Israeli jets took to the skies to target 50 Hamas structures across Gaza in near simultaneous raids on Saturday morning, the buildings were filled with members of the Islamist group.

Several dozen alone were killed in the Jawazat police compound during a Hamas police graduation ceremony, witnesses said.

"Hamas was dealt a surprising and hard blow yesterday," a senior government official quoted Israeli chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi as telling a government meeting on Sunday.

Hamas itself said that all of its security structures were hit in Saturday's onslaught, and that at least three senior officers were killed.

"We left them in complete shock and awe," boasted the Maariv daily.

Preparations for the operation began more than six months ago, when Israel and Hamas were still negotiating a ceasefire through Egyptian intermediaries, Haaretz said.

Barak at the time ordered intelligence officials to prepare a comprehensive survey of the security infrastructure of Hamas and other militant groups inside Gaza, the paper said.

As a result, vital information was acquired about bases, weapon silos, training camps and the location of senior official's homes, it said.

The operational plan remained a blueprint until a month ago, before the December 19 end of the six-month ceasefire and after troops blew up a tunnel which Israel said Palestinian militants planned to use in cross-border attacks, according to Haaretz.