Leaked IDF probe: Only one soldier was guarding Nahal Oz outpost on Oct. 7, Hamas had studied base layout for years

A leaked IDF probe into the October 7, 2023, attack on the Nahal Oz military outpost reveals that there was only one soldier on guard duty that morning, and he was stationed at the entrance to the base, Channel 12 reports.

More than 50 soldiers were killed and 10 were taken hostage from the Nahal Oz outpost, situated less than one kilometer from the Gaza border.

On the morning of October 7, 162 soldiers were present in the outpost, of whom 81 were armed combat soldiers and another 9 were armed but not trained for combat, Channel 12 reports, meaning that half of all soldiers on the base at the time of the attack were non-combatants.

Hamas had studied Nahal Oz from afar for years prior to launching the deadly assault and was intimately familiar with the layout of the base, including “where every room was,” the report says. It adds that the terror group knew that the base would be operating at a reduced capacity due to the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah, which fell on a Saturday that year.

The IDF investigation found that Hamas began its final preparations for the attack on the evening of October 6, roughly 12 hours before the first air-raid sirens would blare in southern Israel, Channel 12 says. However, senior officers alerted to the unusual movement concluded that there was no need to send troops down to the border.

Had troops been instructed to take up their positions, “the battle picture would have looked different,” the report says.

The probe also reportedly addresses the impact that the incessant rocket fire had on the devastation inside the military outpost, as terrorists were able to easily kill large groups of soldiers who had gathered in bomb shelters.

The official findings of the probe are to be presented to relevant families on Thursday and then made available to the public.