Israeli officials knew Hamas' attack plan more than a year ago: Report

By Liam On Dec 1, 2023

Israeli officials obtained Hamas' battle plan for the October 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it occurred, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials have dismissed the plan as ambitious, finding it too difficult for Hamas to implement.

The roughly 40-page document, which Israeli authorities codenamed “Jericho Wall,” outlined point by point exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people. The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not specify a date for the attack but described a methodical assault intended to overwhelm fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the start of the attack, drones to disable the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and armed men rushing into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot. happened on October 7.

The plan also included details on the location and size of Israeli forces, communications centers and other sensitive information, raising questions about how Hamas gathered its intelligence and whether there were leaks within Israel's security establishment. The document circulated widely, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas' capabilities, documents and officials said. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders have also seen the document.

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials from the Israeli army's Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the Gaza border, said Hamas's intentions were unclear. “It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” said a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

Then, in July, just three months before the attacks, a senior analyst from Unit 8200, Israel's intelligence service, warned that Hamas had conducted an intensive, daylong training exercise similar to what was outlined in the blueprint. But a colonel in the Gaza division dismissed her concerns, according to encrypted emails viewed by The Times.

“I strongly refute that the scenario is imaginary,” the analyst wrote in the email exchanges. The Hamas exercise, she said, fully corresponded to “the content of Jericho Wall.” “It's a plan designed to start a war,” she added. “It's not just an attack on a village.” Officials privately admit that if Israel had taken these warnings seriously and sent significant reinforcements to the south, where Hamas was attacking, Israel could have weakened or possibly even prevented the attacks. Instead, the Israeli army was unprepared when terrorists poured out of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military and Israeli Security Service declined to comment on the matter.