Digital devices and documents retrieved from Hamas fights after the October 7 attack show that the terrorist group was involved in years of planning and a very high level of “detail and readiness”, Israeli intelligence officers said. The material was taken from dead or captured Hamas gunmen. It shows detailed plans for an assault that aimed to cause “such a shock as to break people’s spirit”, one officer said as per news agency AFP.
Data from mobile phones, computers, GPS devices, GoPro cameras, maps and notebooks “show years of planning on how to attack bases and kibbutzim,” another intelligence officer told AFP.
On October 7, Hamas stormed into southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages. In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas with a ground offensive, killing around 15,900 people, mostly women and children.
How Israel analysed the material?
Israel has reactivated a military intelligence unit called Amshat to navigate through numerous Arabic documents and electronic data. An officer said that the documents constitute the “battle plan with level of detail and of readiness which are the biggest surprise.”
Detailed plans were discovered on computers, including objectives, names of the units involved and missions assigned to each of them. There was a detailed hand drawing of the military outpost of Nahal Oz which Hamas seized, it was reported. On the bodies of dead Hamas fighters, Israel found satellite photos and precise plans of two of the attacked kibbutzim.
“Part of the training was on how to take hostages” and that “checklists” and “phrase books” had been found, they said. Hamas fighters were told that hostage-takers should “kill those who cause problems or seek to escape”.
“Some of the Hamas fighters were kept in the dark and did not know what would happen,” said one officer while the other said, “A lot of them came with things that were not relevant to the raid, some with cars used on a daily basis.”
On tunnels, the officer said, “All of Gaza Strip is a matrix of tunnels… Imagine how many hostages you can put inside.”
Vikram Sharma is a globe-trotting journalist with a global perspective on international events. His articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing insights into the world’s most pressing challenges.
