Disorganised Israeli troops were forced to rely on social media to choose targets during the October 7 attack by Hamas, according to a damning investigation by the New York Times.

The report said that soldiers were undermanned, communicated in impromptu WhatsApp groups and relied on social media posts for targeting information.

“Commandos rushed into battle armed only for brief combat. Helicopter pilots were ordered to look to news reports and Telegram channels to choose targets,” the American publication said.

The investigation also said that Israeli forces had no response plan or training for a significant attack by Hamas and “made it up as they went along”.

“There was no defence plan for a surprise attack such as the kind we have seen on Oct 7,” said Amir Avivi, a brigadier general in the reserves and a former deputy commander of the Gaza Division.

The Israeli army did not respond to questions from the Times regarding its findings, except to say that questions “of this kind will be looked into at a later stage”.

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