Israeli Air Force commander wasn't aware of Nova Festival massacre for hours on Oct 7 - report

IAF commander: IDF’s internal investigation not complete, results will be made public

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An investigation by Israeli public broadcaster KAN 11 News revealed that top Israel Air Force commanders, including IAF commander Tomer Bar, were unaware of the Nova Music Festival and the massacre near Kibbutz Re'im for several hours on Oct. 7, despite the public already viewing images and videos on the news and social media.

The report also noted that the IDF only drafted an order detailing the IAF’s role in repelling an invasion of Israel a few days before the massacre and that the order hardly addressed the issue of large numbers of terrorists crossing into Israeli territory.

The investigative report from Israeli journalist Avi Amit is based on media reports and internal military reviews that have not yet been shared with the public.

Amit found that the Air Force had not practiced drills for a ground invasion from Gaza, despite the development of the “Great March of Return” border demonstrations organized by Hamas in 2018 and 2019.

These protests are widely seen now as intelligence-gathering efforts as much as demonstrations, with Hamas trying to learn about the IDF’s potential response to large groups of Palestinians on the border.

A senior officer with the UAV Division told Amit: “Three years ago, I realized that we were not ready; that we had to prepare for an explosive event. I took it to all the senior officers in the force. So they did a one-time exercise only of the UAV system to stop terrorists between the fence and the kibbutzim in order to 'check off' the exercise. The problem is that's where it ends. There was no further training. It's a scandal.”

KAN's investigative report claimed that IAF Commander Bar only found out about the Nova Music Festival at 4:20 p.m. on Oct. 7, well after the initial Hamas attack was over.

Not only was Bar unaware of the festival, but the helicopter pilots sent to assist in repelling the Hamas invasion were also uninformed about the large party on the border until later in the day.

One pilot said he only learned about the Nova Festival when he was asked by a Golani Brigade officer to assist his team at the location.

“He asked me to escort him to the festival, and I had no idea what he was talking about,” the pilot said, according to Ynet News. “I thought it was a code.”

The investigation by KAN revealed that IAF pilots were initially trained to protect strategic assets from a more conventional type of attack and were not ordered to respond to the thousands of terrorists and Gaza residents pouring in from over the border.

Ynet News reported that at the start of the Hamas invasion that Shabbat morning, only one UAV flew in the air over Gaza.

The IAF only began to carry out strikes against the breaches of the Gaza border fence at around 11 a.m.

Hamas also targeted some of its early rocket launches at southern IAF bases to disrupt the IAF’s ability to respond to the invasion.

Bar responded to the report on Thursday morning, saying it was based on incomplete evidence, as the IDF has not finished its own investigation.

“I want to make it clear that the official investigation has not been completed and certainly the official data has not been provided to the media," Bar said. The IDF is still carrying out its internal investigation into the events of October 7, and is expected to release the results in the near future.

“The main lessons learned will be presented on September 24, after the conclusion of all proceedings and subject to information security limitations in cooperation with the IDF to the public,” Bar stated.