By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

Al-Jazeera ran a documentary looking at an Israeli operation in 2018 that didn’t go according to plan.

Hamas is now celebrating what it seems to think is a great victory over Israel. This makes sense because the group hasso little to show for more than a year and a half of marches on the Gaza border  and more than 2,000 rockets fired.

The report looks at a November 2018 incident in Khan Yunis where a group of Israeli undercover commandos were stopped by Hamas. “Details of the Israelis’ true identities and even the seatingarrangements for the three IDF vehicles later seized by the Hamas military wing [were revealed].”

This is a surprising level of detail. Israeli media have re-reported the documentary. Hamas has credited itself  with embarrassing elite Israeli commandos and the unit Seyeret Matkal (سييرت متكال). i24 notes “Col. “Het”, as the commander is identified as, stepped down on Tuesday, apparently as a consequence of a botched operation in Gaza last year death that resulted in the death of an elite Israeli soldier, Lt. Col. “M”, and seven Palestinians. However, Israel has not confirmed claims about Sayeret Matkal being behind the special operation in Gaza.”

Hamas-linked media have bragged about their role. It does appear that they would have had to bring these details to Al-Jazeera and that they made a bunch of their fighters available for interviews. In the Hamas narrative it was able to ferret out elite Israelis operators. “the operation of the sword represented the revelation of this force, the burning of all its elements, the killing of its official, the wounding of its deputy, and the completion of the defeat and ironing of consciousness when the response of the resistance led to the resignation of [Israel Defense Minister] Lieberman. Over the course of half a year the formation of a government [has failed].”

Hamas claims the image of Israel’s best unit has “fallen, and the confidence of its officers and soldiers has been undermined, and its president has resigned.” This is a lot of bragging. 

Tweets over  24 hours continually focus on the story.

And a  cartoon

And a series of statements from officials;

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