Was Benjamin Netanyahu briefed by Israeli intelligence about the upcoming Hamas attack on October 7, 2023? That’s the question at the heart of investigations that came to light last week, according to Israeli reporter for the New York Times and Israel’s Yediot Ahronot, Ronen Bergman.
Hamas sim cards and the secret services
In particular, the Israeli journalist focuses on the information that the Israeli secret services had collected from the sim cards of Israeli telecommunications providers, which were procured by Hamas, to be used by its fighters during their stay in Israeli territories. These cards may have been the first indications of the Hamas attack in October last year.
The military informed Netanyahu about the sim cards
Israel’s top military command reportedly contacted Netanyahu’s entourage hours before the attack began and informed them that several Israeli mobile network cards had been activated simultaneously inside the Gaza Strip.
Activate a large number of sims before attacking
More specifically, Bergman wrote for The New York Times on Monday morning that according to “a number of officials familiar with the most relevant intelligence material,” there was a phone call to the military secretariat with information about the activation of a large number of Israeli of SIM cards in the Gaza Strip in the hours before the attack.
The sim cards were the product of the espionage business
According to the investigation, the sim cards were the product of an espionage operation intended to warn of a possible attack, while they could have provided Israeli intelligence with valuable information about Hamas cells inside Israel. Hamas fighters obtained the Israeli sim cards to use once they entered Israel, as their existing cell phones would lose reception. These cards were intended to enable communication between the attackers and to upload documentation and recordings of the attacks to social media.
Benjamin Netanyahu speaks of complete surprise
At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office has repeatedly said, since the first days of the war, that the prime minister was completely surprised by the attack and received no advance warning.
With information from Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, ertnews.gr
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