Marking the first anniversary since the implementation of the Egyptian-mediated prisoner-swap deal that secured the release of 1037 of Palestinian detainees, the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video detailing the planning and actual implementation of the cross border attack against an Israeli military base in June 2006 leading to the abduction of corporal Gilad Shalit. The video includes never before seen clips and interviews with the fighters who planned and carried out the attack, and details stages of preparation, planning, surveillance and reenactment of the actual attack.
The video is 44:42 minutes long and was entirely filmed, produced and published by the Media Unit of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement.
The video shows how the fighters monitored and filmed the Israeli military base, and documented any movement that takes place in the camp and around it, shift changes, types of armored vehicles and tanks, and all related info.
The surveillance continued while other fighters were digging the tunnel that led to the camp based on surveillance info collected on a daily basis.
Seven fighters were then selected to conduct the actual attack against the Israeli military camp.
The selected fighters underwent extensive training that included training on how to infiltrate into the base, how to be prepared for face to face confrontation, and any other urgent situation that might occur.
Initially, the fighters were never informed of the objective of their attack, and were provided the full details just two days before the actual implementation.
They received further training on sharp shooting, how to effectively use rocket-propelled grenades, how to capture soldiers and how to keep the captured soldiers alive.
The fighters were then kept in an isolated place for two days without any outside contact, and then they carried out their attack.
They infiltrated into the base via an underground tunnel while other fighters clashed with monitoring towers to divert attention away from the fighters who actually managed to infiltrate the base.
Shalit was captured after the fighters killed two soldiers who were with him in the tank, and were trying to use the equipped heavy automatic rifle, as they could not fire shells due to the fact that the fighters were close to their tank.
The two last days before the attack, the fighters kept firing homemade shells targeting the camp and nearby Israeli settlements to divert attention away from the actual plan to infiltrate the base.
