American media have evaluated alleged Hamas documents. The protocols and presentations on the terrorist attack on October 7 show that with the help of Iran and Hezbollah, the Islamists hoped to collapse a weakened Israel.
<img alt="Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is said to have promised Iran the destruction of Israel within two years.” data-nzz-tid=”article-image” width=”5184″ height=”3456″ src=”https://img.nzz.ch/2024/10/13/39874a3f-c9c5-46c9-a4f2-bec9d950e904.jpeg?width=654&height=436&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=5184,3456,x0,y0″ loading=”eager” srcset=”https://img.nzz.ch/2024/10/13/39874a3f-c9c5-46c9-a4f2-bec9d950e904.jpeg?width=680&height=453&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=5184,3456,x0,y0 680w, https://img.nzz.ch/2024/10/13/39874a3f-c9c5-46c9-a4f2-bec9d950e904.jpeg?width=1360&height=907&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=5184,3456,x0,y0 1360w, https://img.nzz.ch/2024/10/13/39874a3f-c9c5-46c9-a4f2-bec9d950e904.jpeg?width=327&height=218&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=5184,3456,x0,y0 327w, https://img.nzz.ch/2024/10/13/39874a3f-c9c5-46c9-a4f2-bec9d950e904.jpeg?width=654&height=436&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=5184,3456,x0,y0 654w” class=”image-placeholder__image” style=”cursor:pointer;transform:scale(1);”/>
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is said to have promised Iran the destruction of Israel within two years.
Ahmad Hasaballah / Imago
During their offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli armed forces seized confidential documents from the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. The government in Jerusalem now made part of it available to American media. The «New York Times» evaluated ten meeting minutes that were found in January in an abandoned Hamas leadership bunker in the city of Khan Yunis. Experts close to Hamas confirmed the authenticity of the documents to the Times.
In general, the protocols confirm already known certainties. But they also contain interesting details: The Hamas leadership around Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip allegedly wanted to launch the terrorist attack a year earlier – in September or October 2022. The documents do not reveal why she postponed her “big project,” writes the New York Times. But a much-discussed topic at the meetings was how Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah could be won over to the operation. Perhaps Hamas was not yet confident enough about this support.
Two years until the destruction of Israel
Die «Washington Post» evaluated letters that Sinwar is said to have sent to the highest decision-makers in Tehran – including the revolutionary leader Ali Khamenei – in 2021. In it, he allegedly asks Iran for $500 million in financial aid as well as arms supplies and military training in order to be able to field an additional 12,000 fighters. In return, the Hamas leader promises nothing less than the destruction of Israel: “We are convinced that within two years – God willing – we and you will eradicate this monstrous entity (Israel).” Hamas will not waste a minute or money until this “holy goal” is achieved.
According to planning documents seized by Israel containing thousands of images of military and civilian targets, Hamas dreamed of a much larger terrorist attack than the one on October 7, 2023. Among other things, it allegedly developed ideas for blowing up high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv and loading freight trains with fuel into them exploding Israeli cities or converting fishing boats into speedboats to attack Israeli ports.
The Washington Post also writes that it was not able to “definitely” verify the authenticity of the documents. Israel has repeatedly spread false information in the past, Iran’s UN mission in New York said in a statement. The “Israeli regime” is mendacious and inhumane. However, the mission did not address the documents that have now been published.
Iran was inaugurated in the summer
It is still not entirely clear to what extent Tehran was informed about the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. Khamenei denies any involvement. At the same time, in June he meant the Middle East I needed this attack. As the alleged Hamas meeting minutes show, Iran was certainly in the picture. Accordingly, Sinwar’s deputy, Khalil al-Hayya, discussed the plan in the summer of 2023 with Mohammed Said Izadi, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard stationed in Lebanon. Hamas will need help to attack sensitive targets early in the operation, Hayya explained. Iran and Hezbollah welcomed the plan in principle, but would need more time to “prepare the environment,” Izadi replied.
As the documents show, Hamas considered the 2023 environment favorable for various reasons. On the one hand, Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in Israel at the beginning of the year through a coalition with right-wing extremist forces. This government’s tougher stance toward the Palestinians will help them receive more support for their “big project,” according to the minutes of the Hamas leaders’ meeting. At the same time, they saw Israel weakened by the “internal situation”. Netanyahu’s planned judicial reform divided the country and led to ongoing mass protests.
According to the protocols, Hamas also presented the operation to Hezbollah and Iran as an effective means of preventing the US-driven normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A newly developed Israeli air defense system, which shoots rockets or drones with a laser, is also said to have played a role in the decision to carry out the attack. Accordingly, Hamas wanted to take action before Israel could put the system into operation.
Even without clear commitments from Hezbollah and Iran, Hamas was apparently convinced that the moment was right and the terrorist attack was necessary. Sinwar hoped that his foreign allies would not be able to avoid the escalation. The Hamas leader was convinced that his “project” would trigger a regional conflagration that would lead to Israel’s collapse, writes the New York Times.
Hamas’ plan did not work, although the organization managed to surprise Israel with the attack. As the minutes show, the Islamists tried to lull the Israelis into a false sense of security in the two years before the attack. The fact that there was no major escalation after a march by Israeli ultra-nationalists through Jerusalem’s Old City in May 2022 was seen by Hamas leaders as a success. Israel should believe that their organization is not interested in confrontation at this time. In fact, the Israeli security apparatus underestimated Hamas. The military and the secret service already knew about their big plan in 2022but didn’t trust her to implement it.
