Israel knew about Hamas attack plan a year ago, report reveals

A report has revealed that Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the October 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened.

According to a 40-page document which Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall”, Israeli military and intelligence received signals for that kind of devastating invasion but dismissed it as a wishful plan, which could be difficult for Hamas to execute.

The report disclosed that documents, emails and interviews showed that the terrorist organisation planned a deadly attack which was eventually launched on October 7 that killed about 1,200 civilians.

The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases.

Nearly two months into the Israel-Hamas war, a new report has suggested that officials in Israel had received documents detailing the planned Hamas attack, a year before it happened.

Further, it suggested the Israeli officials dismissed the documents as “overly ambitious” and something “not possible for Hamas” to carry out.

However, approximately a year later (on October 7, 2023), Hamas carried out the attack exactly as detailed in the document, the report stated.

The document stated the Hamas terrorists would use a barrage of rockets and drones to attack Israel.

It also added the terror group would also make use of security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, while gunmen would enter the country on motorcycles and on foot, it stated, all of which happened on October 7 – the day the assault was first reported.

The plan also revealed sensitive information about the positioning of the Israeli military forces.

The report did not state whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top Isreali officials saw the document, but stated experts in Netanyahu’s country determined that such an attack, as illustrated in the document, was beyond the capabilities of Hamas.

In July this year (three months before the attack), a veteran analyst with Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence agency, warned that Hamas had conducted an intense, daylong training exercise that appeared similar to what was outlined in the blueprint. However, the concerns were again brushed off by a colonel, the report suggested.

Meanwhile, last month, Israel’s domestic security service chief took responsibility for the intelligence failures that allowed Hamas to carry out the deadliest attack on the Jewish state.

Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet, said that the lack of warning about the Hamas attack was his responsibility.

“Despite a series of actions we undertook, regrettably, we failed to provide a sufficient warning that would have allowed us to thwart the attack. As the head of the organisation, the responsibility for this falls on me,” he said in a letter to the organisation’s employees as per Israel-based Haaretz.

Israel’s security agencies like Mossad and Shin Bet are known for their intelligence-gathering capabilities but Hamas’s attack shocked many experts, who could not believe that a terrorist organisation could pull off an assault of this nature.

The series of attacks by Hamas terrorists and the counterstrikes by Israel led to the death of 1,200 people in Israel. In the same vein, more than 13,000 Palestinians have died since the war began.

The terror group also held nearly 240 people as hostages, some of whom have been released as both sides agreed to a ceasefire in recent days.

Meanwhile, there was a seven-day pause in fighting which allowed a truce between Israel and Hamas to release hostages from both sides.

The bombardment of Gaza has resumed on Friday morning by Israel.