Hamas terrorists reportedly aimed to kill as many civilians as possible during their October 7 attack on Israel because they wanted to spark an intense military response from Israel in the hopes that it would draw the entire region into a war against Israel.
More than a dozen top intelligence officials from several Western and Middle Eastern nations told The Washington Post that based on what Israeli investigators have found in the aftermath of the attack that it was clear that Hamas terrorists were ordered to murder as many civilians as possible and that they had planned to push further into Israel, into its larger cities, during the attacks.
The terrorists “carried enough food, ammunition and equipment to last several days” and carried with them “instructions to continue deeper into Israel.”
The report said that Hamas intended to inflict as much terror in the most heinous ways imaginable with the expectation that it would “spark a conflagration” from Israel that they hoped would then ignite the Islamic into action against Israel. The Palestinian terrorists also aimed to derail efforts to further secure peace deals between Israel and the Arab world.
Hamas’ top officials have openly stated that Palestinian civilians must die to advance their cause against Israel and that they are ready to launch “a second, a third, a fourth” attack on the level of October 7 against Israel until it is annihilated.
“Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it,” said Hamas official Ghazi Hamad. “We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
Hamas gathered “detailed intelligence” on the areas they would strike through various open source methods, including cheap drones, real estate websites, social media posts, and talking to Gazans who had temporary work permits in Israel.
Hamas implemented “professional-grade operational security” protocols to prevent anyone outside of a small group of people from discovering the attacks that the group had planned.
Top Hamas terrorist leaders launched “an extraordinarily sophisticated deception” for nearly two years, during which time they planned the attack, where they sent various signals to the Israeli government that they were not interested in further military escalation. These signals included not joining other Islamic terror groups as they launched attacks against Israel, showing signs that they wanted to improve economic conditions inside Gaza, and even giving intelligence information to the Israelis about other Islamic terror groups inside Gaza. Hamas also used various low tech methods to avoid being captured by Israel’s vaunted intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile, an “unknown” supplier, most likely Iran, was using drones with anti-jamming equipment to attempt to supply Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, which is on the other side of Israel, with weapons that they could use in terror attacks against Israel. Palestinians there had escalated violent attacks against Israel in recent months — all while Hamas conducted extensive training operations inside Gaza in preparation for their attack.
A top Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified intelligence, told the Post that Hamas “planned a second phase, including in major Israeli cities and military bases.”
Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, a group that studies the ideology and online communications of extremist groups, said that “Palestinian suffering is a critical component in bringing about the instability and global outrage [that Hamas] seeks to exploit.”