Israel has uncovered a memo it says was written by deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in which the terrorist leader gave detailed instructions for Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, specifically ordering Hamas terrorists to target civilians and broadcast the atrocities across the world in real time.
The six-page document, discovered in a bunker after the assassination of Hamas leader Muhammed Sinwar in May 2025 and obtained by the New York Times, was disseminated to Hamas commanders in August 2022. The Times consulted document expert Sima Ankona, who said that the handwriting in the memo matched other documents known to be authored by Sinwar.
“The memo,” the Times reports, “calls for fighters to target soldiers and civilian communities — as well as to broadcast the violent acts so as to evoke fear in Israelis and destabilize the country. Commanders then issued similar instructions on Oct. 7, according to hours of previously unreported communications between commanders and subordinates intercepted by Israel during the assault.”
The memo undermines Hamas’s claims that the Oct. 7 attack was directed primarily at the Israeli military.
“Two or three operations, in which an entire neighborhood, kibbutz, or something similar will be burned, must be prepared,” the memo read — and while there were no specific instructions for militants to kill or kidnap civilians, they were ordered to set fire to homes “with gasoline or diesel from a tanker.”
The Israel Defense Forces intercepted communications in which Hamas commanders appear to have repeated several of the memo’s directives to burn homes and kibbutzim.
“Start setting homes on fire,” a communication from a Gaza City battalion commander named Abu Muhammed read. “Burn, burn. I want the whole kibbutz to be in flames.”
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