Former Mossad chief says Israel 'didn't have an inkling of what was going on'

Efraim Halevy, the former head of Israel's intelligence service Mossad, said in an interview with CNN that the Palestinian attack on Israel "was a total surprise" and that "we had no warning of any kind".

"We didn't have an inkling of what was going on," he told the news channel.

In response to Hamas launching thousands of rockets at Israel on Saturday, Halevy said that the attack was "beyond imagination" for Israel, and that "we didn't know they had this quantity of missiles, and we certainly didn't expect that they would be as effective as they were today".

The former Israeli intelligence chief also told CNN that the Palestinian attack was unique and that it was "the first time" Gaza has been able to "penetrate deep into Israel and to take control of villages".