Sunday October 13, New York Times and the Washington Posttwo American daily newspapers, had access to the minutes of ten secret Hamas meetings before the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023. These documents reveal how the Palestinian terrorist organization prepared and planned this attack, moving closer Hezbollah and Iran.
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Everything had been planned for a long time, according to the revelations published this Sunday, October 13 in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Since 2021, Hamas has kept a low profile and avoided any escalation with Israel so that the Jewish State has no suspicion. But secretly the organization was preparing what it called “ the big project “, the most devastating attack ever carried out against Israel.
Unpublished minutes
It was initially scheduled for fall 2022. However, Hamas decided to delay it in order to persuade Iran and the Hezbollah to participate in it. The minutes of ten meetings of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, and his main commanders demonstrate that exchanges did take place between the different parties.
According to the American press, Hamas even sent a senior official to the Lebanon for him to meet with a senior Iranian commander and request help in striking sensitive sites as the assault begins. The two American dailies also confirm that Ismaïl Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was well aware of the project before the operation was launched, without specifying whether he knew all the details. According to these revelations, a meeting was also planned with Hassan Nasrallah, then head of Hezbollahbut it has not been established that this meeting actually took place.
Act quickly
Through the lines, we also learn that the timing of Hamas’ action was influenced by the imminent establishment of a new Israeli air defense system. He therefore decided to act more quickly, even if he was not sure he could count on help from Iran and Hezbollah. The organization also included harm the desire of Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize their relations.
These revelations unsettled the Israeli intelligence services, which failed to obtain the documents in time. Apparently, Israel had Hamas’s battle plans before the October 7 attack, but Israeli commanders have repeatedly rejected the idea that Hamas had the capacity or intent to implement them imminently.
Also readIsrael: from Haifa, under fire from Lebanese Hezbollah [Récit]