Israel knew about Hamas’ plans to attack for more than a year

2023-12-01 09:26:53

What had been a major hypothesis in recent weeks has been confirmed thanks to a 40-page document to which no one in the upper echelons of Israel gave the slightest importance: Hamas, its author, planned the massacre of the October 7 and Tel Aviv has known about it for at least a year. However, the Intelligence Service and the military considered that an attack like the one described in that plan was far beyond the capabilities of the jihadist militia and remained with the theory that the organization had planned it on a purely theoretical level. with no possibility of being put into practice.

This conclusion is part of an investigation that ‘The New York Times’ publishes this Friday based on interviews with people close to this case and after examining numerous reports and emails. Israel obtained the jihadist plan last year and even baptized it with a code name: ‘Jericho Wall’. In it, the terrorists showed a fairly accurate knowledge of the Israeli military bases in the Strip, the size of their troops and other confidential data, and indicated how the offensive should be carried out to cause the greatest possible destruction in the kibbutzim. The only thing missing from those pages was the date on which hell was to break loose.

The surprise was huge after October 7 among the Tel Aviv Intelligence forces. The Hamas commandos fulfilled “point by point” all the guidelines of that plan that the military and the spy service had disdained a year before. From the initial bombardment with rockets and the destruction of the border surveillance systems using drones to the way in which the barracks had to be attacked and the civilians kidnapped, the New York newspaper points out. In fact, the Hamas document organized the assault scheme using thousands of armed men who would cross from Gaza to the communes in cars, motorcycles and paragliders. Just as it happened on October 7, when some 3,000 armed individuals crossed the fence by land and air and destroyed everything in their path.

training

The investigation coincides with the evidence collected after the offensive, which caused the death of 1,200 people, and which in recent weeks has allowed the theory to be put together that it was impossible for the powerful Israeli Intelligence machinery to lack the minimum knowledge of the intentions of Hamas. Among the bodies of the jihadists killed during the attack, the army recovered hundreds of documents with maps, privileged information and attack orders, which in some cases dated back to 2022. That is, at least a year ago the Islamist militia had already placed his murderous plan in motion. Several commanders cited by Israeli and Western newspapers anonymously have also acknowledged that on several occasions clues emerged that supported the suspicion of a possible mass attack against Israel, but that apparently were not taken into account.

Last year, according to the journalistic investigation, military experts in the Gaza division considered that Hamas’s intentions were not defined. “It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will manifest itself,” says an analysis to which ‘The New York Times’ has had access. Not only did those responsible for border security relativize the value of the document, but it was in the hands of the military and Intelligence, who supposedly ruled out that the jihadist militia had sufficient forces and logistics to commit an attack of these characteristics.

However, last July an Israeli analyst warned that Hamas had carried out a training exercise similar to that described in ‘Jericho Wall’. CNN also reported on several occasions about the terrorists’ preparations. In a video recorded last December, hundreds of individuals can be seen simulating a rocket attack and the kidnapping of hostages, precisely in a training camp built very close to the border fence with Israel. In other recordings made at least in the last two years, the jihadists’ practices with paragliders can be seen, one of the methods they used to overcome the security of the kibbutz. At the time, Lieutenant Colonel John Conricus, a spokesman for the Defense Forces, explained to CNN that all of these findings “were nothing new.”

The Government of Benjamin Netanyahu promised at the beginning of the war that, once it ended, possible security failures committed by Israel would be investigated. Some sources have argued that the army and intelligence service were able to relax excessively after two years in which there had been virtually no major conflicts with Hamas. Other experts blame an alleged change in the Executive’s model on the country’s security, concentrating on the northern side and the threat of Hezbollah and the protection of settlers. What there does seem to be a consensus on is that, if the southern border with the Strip had been militarily reinforced, the jihadist offensive might have been mitigated. More than fifty days later, the Executive is still tiptoeing around this issue. The journalistic investigation does not know if the dossier on the ‘Jerico Wall’ came to the attention of the prime minister.