Israel makes explosive finds among dead Hamas fighters
Data and documents found by soldiers among Hamas fighters show that the massacre on October 7 was planned for years. This makes it all the more explosive that the otherwise so praised Israeli security authorities were hardly aware of it - or did not take it seriously.
Hamas planned the large-scale, cruel attack on Israel for years and down to the last detail. According to the Israeli secret service, this is evident from data and documents that were confiscated after October 7. Among other things, precise sketches of attack targets, weapons lists and timetables were found among killed or captured fighters of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization.
"The level of detail and preparation surprised us the most," an intelligence officer told journalists. At a press conference, two anonymous representatives of the service reported on the findings. The aim of the attack was to "cause a shock that would break people". The data from cell phones, computers, tablets, GPS devices, GoPro cameras, maps and notebooks "show years of planning for attacks on bases and kibbutzim," said one of the intelligence officers.
To analyze the material, Israel reactivated a military intelligence unit called Amshat. It combed through the numerous Arab documents and decrypted millions of electronic data. This resulted in a veritable "battle plan", said an officer. The Amshat unit was founded after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and has been reactivated several times since then.
Hamas had precise data on outposts
The analysts discovered detailed tactical plans of Hamas on computers, which not only described the targets, but also the names of the units involved and their tasks, with details of the attack, including times and a list of the weapons required.
The investigators also found a precise hand drawing of the military outpost of Nahal Oz, which Hamas occupied during its attack. They recovered satellite photos and exact plans of two of the attacked kibbutzim from the bodies of killed Hamas fighters.
Media reports after October 7 speculated that Palestinian workers and Israeli Arabs may have helped to draw up detailed maps of the kibbutzes. It remained unclear how the information about the military posts came into the hands of Hamas.
"Part of the training (for the attack) was how to take hostages," the officers said. "Checklists" and "language guides" for the kidnappings had been found. In the instructions, the fighters are advised to blindfold all adult hostages and tie their hands. The hostage-takers were to "kill those who cause problems or try to escape". A guide lists around 50 Hebrew expressions in phonetic transcription, such as "be quiet", "don't move", "lie down" or "put your hands up".
According to a report in the New York Times, Hamas deliberately accepted an escalation of the conflict with the attack on October 7. In the Islamists' interpretation, the aim was to revive the faltering Palestinian cause through violence, the newspaper wrote, citing conversations with several Hamas representatives. They wanted to unite the Arab world in a war against Israel. A calculation that has so far only worked to a limited extent.
Failure of the Israeli authorities?
The fact that Hamas had been planning the attack for years is explosive because the Israeli authorities seemed surprised and overwhelmed at the beginning. There was soon talk of a failure on the part of the security authorities, which is now the subject of investigations. The Israeli secret service is actually one of the best in the world. Among other things, they have state-of-the-art surveillance technology at their disposal.
The New York Times reported on December 1 that Israeli intelligence had obtained a Hamas plan more than a year ago, in which a similar attack to the one on October 7 was described step by step. However, the intelligence service had classified this scenario as unrealistic.
To its surprise, the secret service also found a number of documents that had nothing to do with the massacre on October 7, including some of supposedly high military value. One of the officers said that a detailed map of the southern Gaza Strip had been discovered, on which previously unknown Hamas military facilities were marked. "Some of the Hamas fighters were kept in the dark and didn't know what was going to happen. Many of them were carrying things that were not relevant to this raid."
According to the information, Amshat also obtained images of tunnels in the Gaza Strip - the officers did not specify how. The images showed long corridors reinforced with concrete and metal, which are wide and high enough for vehicles. He would "not be surprised" if there were more than 500 kilometers of deep, interconnected tunnels in total, one of the intelligence officers said. "Imagine how many hostages you can put in there."
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The discovery of Hamas's detailed plans for attacks on Israeli bases and kibbutzim, including weapon lists and timetables, raises questions about Israel's preparedness for potential conflicts with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Despite Israel's renowned intelligence capabilities, it appears that Hamas had been planning a large-scale attack for years, which highlights possible failures in the Israeli security system.
The evidence collected from Hamas fighters, such as tactical plans, satellite photos, and hostage-taking instructions, indicates a well-organized and meticulously planned offensive against Israel, which threatens to escalate tensions further in the region.
Source: www.ntv.de
