Israel Broadcasting Corporation: The Army and the intelligence services were aware of October attack plan 3 weeks earlier

The Israel Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday that a document was found confirming that the IDF and intelligence services were aware of Hamas’s plan 3 weeks before October 7, 2023.

The document, titled “Detailed End-to-End Raid Drills” compiled by the IDF’s Gaza Division, reveals that intelligence officials were aware of Hamas’s plan to attack, storm settlements and kidnap 200 to 250 hostages, the commission said.

Security officials confirmed that “the document was known to senior intelligence in the division”.

According to the official Israeli body, the document was distributed less than three weeks before the October 7 attack, specifically on September 19, 2023.

The author of the document describes in detail a series of exercises carried out by Hamas’s elite units, in which they carried out raids on outposts and military kibbutzim, abduction of soldiers and civilians, and even instructions on how to detain and guard the abductees while they were already in the territory of the Gaza Strip.

The document initially deals with a series of exercises carried out by the brigades of Hamas’ military wing.

According to it, the first step in the exercise is to open gaps in a fictitious IDF settlement post built in the Gaza Strip that simulates settlement positions in the Gaza envelope, and the exercise was carried out by four companies.

Israeli intelligence officers who followed the exercise formulated the next steps after the raid and takeover of outposts, stating that the instructions were to hand over captured soldiers to company commanders as well as to detain between 200 and 250 people.

Hamas’ targets it intends to target, namely al Qaeda headquarters, command and control headquarters, synagogues at the bases, squadron headquarters, communications headquarters, aiming systems and soldiers’ quarters, were also included.

The official body notes that the Southern Command intelligence and the Gaza Division weren’t only aware of the abduction plan but also the plan in detail, including the conditions of hostage-taking, instructions for the kidnappers on conduct in extreme cases, how and under what circumstances the hostages were taken.

The Israel Broadcasting Corporation confirmed that Hamas’s plan to kidnap 200 to 250 soldiers and civilians, including women and children, was completely ignored.

The document also mentioned the most extreme scenario for which the division prepared, which was the storming of dozens of militants in only three locations.

The General Staff investigation team is expected to present to the Chief of Staff the preliminary findings of the omission of such reports in about two weeks.

The document after Israel’s Supreme Court issued an interim order on Sunday evening ordering State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman to suspend his investigation into security failures in addressing the October 7 operation involving the IDF and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service.

Last December, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman began a wide-ranging investigation into Israel’s failure to address Operation Al Aqsa Flood on October 7, which was carried out by Palestinian factions on the Gaza periphery.

Israeli Supreme Court Judge Gila Canfy Steinitz initially ruled in May that she wouldn’t stop the monitor’s investigation, and then, after receiving confidential responses from the security services, decided to suspend the investigation until a Supreme Court hearing on the case in July.