NEW YORK, US
Israeli officials had intelligence that Palestinian militant group Hamas was preparing a wide-ranging attack before its October 7 assault but dismissed the reports, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The newspaper said a document
obtained by Israeli authorities “outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of
devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.”
The document, which was
reviewed by the newspaper, did not specify when the attack might happen, but
provided a blueprint that Hamas appears to have followed: an initial rocket
barrage, efforts to knock out surveillance, and waves of gunmen crossing into
Israel by land and air.
The Times said the document,
which included sensitive security information about Israeli military capacity
and locations, circulated widely among the country’s military and intelligence
leaders, though it was not clear if it was reviewed by senior politicians.
But a military assessment last
year determined it was too soon to say the plan had been approved by Hamas, and
when an analyst with the country’s signals intelligence warned the group had
carried out a training exercise in line with the plan, she was dismissed.
She warned it was a “plan
designed to start a war,” the newspaper said, but a colonel reviewing her
assessment suggested: “let’s wait patiently.”
The warnings did not suggest
that Hamas was likely to carry out the plan imminently, and the intelligence
community continued to believe that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was not pursuing
war with Israel, the Times said, likening the intelligence failure to those in
the United States before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200
people, mostly civilians, and saw around 240 people taken hostage, according to
Israeli officials.
Israel’s retaliatory ground
and air offensive in Gaza has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly
civilians, according to Hamas authorities.
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