The timeline will never make sense for those of us who were there that day. Regardless of all the talk and counter-accusations, I got up at around 8am and began to work on an article about it soon after the sirens in Jerusalem. Then I drove toward Gaza; in my area many people were already driving to their army units to respond. The streets were deserted expect for the responders.
We got to the border area and saw the bodies.
Amid all the infighting now, for those of us who were there the fact was that many lower level authorities responded as they could and fought local battles; the entire high command had collapsed ; it continued in the collapse throughout the night until the next day; total chaos
We all saw it with our own experience in every sector ; the chain of command above a certain level was not there; but average people responded with great heroism
Whatever media stories will try later to reshape this, anyone who went to the front that day, as I did, saw it first hand.
It will never be fully understood without a full accounting and so far only local battles have been investigated