The New York Times reported Saturday that they had obtained minutes from secret Hamas meetings that were seized by the Israeli military, and they provide some stunning—and concerning—revelations. The intel comes from the minutes of 10 planning meetings by Hamas leaders where they strategized about the October 7 attack on Israel, which they dubbed “the big project.”
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Yahya Sinwar, a leader of the military wing of Hamas, planned the savage assault for over two years. The effort was delayed by over a year, however, as they tried to get other zealots involved:
Hamas initially planned to carry out the attack, which it code-named “the big project,” in the fall of 2022. But the group delayed executing the plan as it tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate…
In July 2023, Hamas dispatched a top official to Lebanon, where he met with a senior Iranian commander and requested help with striking sensitive sites at the start of the assault.
The senior Iranian commander told Hamas that Iran and Hezbollah were supportive in principle, but needed more time to prepare; the minutes do not say how detailed a plan was presented by Hamas to its allies.
Although Hamas felt their allies would support their assault, they went in by themselves anyway to catch Israel off-guard:
Hamas felt assured of its allies’ general support, but concluded it might need to go ahead without their full involvement — in part to stop Israel from deploying an advanced new air-defense system before the assault took place…
Hamas deliberately avoided major confrontations with Israel for two years from 2021, in order to maximize the surprise of the Oct. 7 attack. As the leaders saw it, they “must keep the enemy convinced that Hamas in Gaza wants calm.”
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The hope was that Israel would collapse.
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The minutes were obtained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and have led some inside Israel to question why the intelligence agencies didn’t catch wind of the plan:
The minutes detailing the planning before the attack were found on a computer in late January by Israel Defense Forces soldiers who were searching an underground Hamas command post in Khan Younis, the New York Times said.
The documents were verified by experts, including Salah al-Din al-Awawdeh, a Hamas member and a former fighter in its military wing who is now an analyst in Istanbul.
The discovery also set off a flurry of questions within Israel’s intelligence agencies, as an internal military review demanded to know how Israel’s spies failed to obtain the information before the Oct. 7 attack or to understand what they described, the Times noted.
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Iran of course denied they were ever involved, but the mullahs are not exactly known for their honesty:
“All the planning, decision-making and directing were solely executed by Hamas’s military wing based in Gaza, any claim attempting to link it to Iran or Hezbollah — either partially or wholly — is devoid of credence and comes from fabricated documents,” the statement [from the Iranian Mission to the United Nations] to the New York Times read.
The news comes as Israel is reportedly preparing to retaliate against Iran for their recent missile barrage against the Jewish state. RedState will keep you updated.