Israel’s armed forces knew about Hamas‘ strategy to launch an attack on Israeli soil over a year prior to the devastating Oct. 7 operation that killed numerous individuals, The New York Times reported Friday.
This was just the latest indication that top Israeli leaders either ignored or downplayed warnings that Hamas was planning the attack, which triggered a war with the Islamic militant group and has caused extensive damage in the Gaza Strip.
The Times reported that Israeli officials were in possession of a 40-page battle plan, codenamed “Jericho Wall,” that detailed a hypothetical Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities.
It was unclear how the document was obtained by Israel, but the article suggested that it had been translated, which implies that it may have been in Arabic and directly intercepted from Hamas.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the report, saying it was “currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organization Hamas.
“Questions of this nature will be investigated at a later stage,” it said.
The document was seen by several Israeli military and intelligence officials, the report said, though it was unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top leaders had seen it.
The document predicted that Hamas would bombard Israel with rockets, use drones to disable Israel’s security and surveillance capabilities at the border wall, and take over southern communities and military bases. Another 2016 Israeli defense memo obtained by the Times said Hamas intended to hijack back to Gaza.
Friends and family grieve for Sergeant Kiril Brodski, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who was killed on Oct. 7.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld through Getty Images
The Oct. 7 attack – in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 individuals were abducted and forced to Gaza – would eerily resemble the one outlined in the battle plan. Israeli officials had dismissed the plan, the report said, dismissing it as “aspirational” rather than something that could realistically take place, the report said.
The report comes amidst public fury towards the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent an attack that seems to have been preceded by numerous signs.
The attack was planned in plain sight A month before the attack, Hamas posted a video to social media showing fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, storm in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-blown reenactment of an Israeli town, shooting automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets.
In the video, the militants destroyed replicas of the wall’s concrete towers and a communications antenna, just as they would do for real on Oct. 7.
Adding to public outrage over the military’s apparent negligence, the Israeli media has reported that military officials dismissed warnings from female border spotters who alerted that they were witnessing Hamas’ preparations for the attack.
