Hamas Fighters Used Israeli SIM Cards in ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Attack: Occupation Army Responds

The occupation army acknowledged what was reported by Hebrew media that Hamas fighters used Israeli communications SIM cards that helped carry out the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack, but it objected to the numbers of SIM cards.

At dawn on October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” in response to “the continuing attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinian people, their property, and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.”

Yesterday, Monday, Israeli media revealed that Hamas fighters in Gaza activated Israeli communications chips before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack.

The Hebrew Channel 14 said, the day before yesterday, Sunday, that about a thousand SIM cards were activated simultaneously hours before the Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The occupation army commented on these reports, saying, “At around midnight, before the attack on October 7, intelligence monitored the operation of dozens of Israeli SIM cards in Gaza, not 1,000 SIM cards.”

A statement by the army and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) denied the activation of 1,000 Israeli SIM cards, and said that in practice, “several indicators have accumulated, including, among other things, the activation of only dozens of SIM cards, which were activated in previous incidents in the past.”

Because devices equipped with Israeli SIM cards had been activated in the past without anything happening, this led Israeli intelligence officials to believe that Hamas might be carrying out training as it had done in the past. This was not seen as a definitive sign of a planned attack, and they decided to continue consultations. On this issue throughout the night, according to the “Times of Israel” website.

The Times of Israel said that the SIM cards likely enabled Hamas members to communicate better in southern Israel during the attack.

Days after the Hamas attack, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar claimed responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas attack.

In a message to Shin Bet employees, Bar said: “Despite the series of measures we took, unfortunately, on Saturday, we failed to provide sufficient warning that would allow us to thwart the attack. As head of the organization, the responsibility for this falls on my shoulders.”

Last month, Barr called on the government to immediately form an official investigation committee to “examine the failures” that occurred during the attack.

TRT Arabic – Agencies

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2024-02-27 17:05:40