Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who led the U.S.’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in an interview that the recent terrorist attacks in Israel were worse than the terror attacks that hit the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

Petraeus, the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said that the attacks — which killed at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded 3,000+ more — were “far worse than 9/11” when adjusted for the difference in population size.

“This is the equivalent of the U.S. having experienced over 40,000 losses, rather than the 3,000 terrible losses that we sustained in the attacks of 9/11,” he said.

He said that Israel’s ground offensive inside Gaza to root out Hamas, the terror group that carried out the attacks, would be a “very, very tough fight.”

“I almost can’t imagine a more challenging contextual set of circumstances here than what they face,” he told CBS News. “There are tunnels; there will be rooms that will have improvised explosive devices. You have to clear every building, every floor, every room, every basement, every tunnel. Civilian losses are inevitable, and tough Israeli losses lie ahead as well.”

He said that he was surprised by how sophisticated the attack was and even more surprised that no intelligence agencies picked up on it.

“This is a very substantial operation, and the planning of it alone would have been very considerable; then, the training and equipping and positioning of forces, then the actual conduct of it,” he said. “That all of that could take place and not spark much increased military readiness is really quite stunning.”

He said that the only way Hamas was able to carry out the attacks without was through “dramatic improvement” in their “operational security.”

“Very, very creative use of these munitions and capabilities to degrade dramatically, in some cases knock out, the Israeli ability to see what is going around this quite formidable iron fence that was established,” he said.

When asked if Hamas’ objective was simply to just “kill Jews,” Petraeus responded: “That’s always [their] objective. Destroy Israel.”

WATCH:

Former Gen. David Petraeus, who led U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, shares his insights on Israel's battle with Hamas. In conversation with CBS News' David Martin, he discusses intelligence lapses, Israel's response and the impact on Gaza's residents. https://t.co/yee7NDU40p pic.twitter.com/IIrhlRQ78h

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) October 15, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reportedly delayed its ground operation into Gaza for a variety of reasons including the belief that an Iranian-backed terrorist group might be planning a surprise attack the moment Israel deploys its forces.

The news comes after more than 1,400 Israelis were murdered in one of the largest terrorist attacks in history last weekend that was carried out by Palestinian terrorists in Hamas.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Military sources told the newspaper that there is growing fear that the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah was waiting for the IDF to get fully immersed in fighting inside Gaza before launching a full-scale war against Israel from the north.

Hezbollah has launched small-scale attacks against Israel in recent days which have been easily defeated by Israeli forces. However, the military sources cautioned this could be part of “an elaborate fake-out to lure the IDF into a false sense of security, similar to what Hamas pulled off in the south,” the report said.

Israeli officials are wanting to make sure they beef up their military capabilities in the north and make sure that they are not missing any signals from their intelligence counterparts.

Israeli officials also want to make sure that they have their ducks in a row before launching the ground offensive since the IDF has not conducted an operation like this in decades.

A short while ago, the IAF struck terror targets and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, in response to fire yesterday (Monday) towards Israel. pic.twitter.com/6AP56PSHld

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 17, 2023

The Associated Press reported that Hezbollah has deployed snipers in recent days to destroy Israeli surveillance cameras at Israeli army posts near the Israel-Lebanon border

The terrorist group, which Israel considers its top nearby threat, wants to stop Israel’s ability to monitor its movements near the border

President Joe Biden deployed a second aircraft carrier to the region last week to join the USS Ford strike carrier group that is already positioned there. The administration also sent fighter jets from the Air Force and a rapid response force of 2,000 Marines to the area.