A document prepared by the IDF’s military intelligence directorate less than three weeks before October 7 warned that Hamas was training for a full-scale invasion of Israel in which hostages would be taken en masse, according to the public broadcaster Kan, citing anonymous security sources.
The September 19 document – which was ignored – estimates the number of hostages targeted at 200-250. In the October 7 attack, 251 hostages were captured and 1,200 people were murdered, most of them civilians.
Similar information is then published by other Israeli media.
The detailed document describes a series of exercises carried out by the Palestinian terrorist group’s elite forces, who trained to carry out raids on Israeli towns and military posts, including how to take soldiers and soldiers hostage. civilians when they return to Gaza, and on the conditions in which they can be killed. The document was brought to the attention of senior intelligence officials, at least those in the Gaza division. Government and senior military officials said they had no warning of the planned invasion at the time. The document adds that the most extreme scenario the Gaza division had prepared for before October 7 was dozens of terrorists crossing the border in three locations – far fewer than the estimated 3,000 people who ended up crossing into Israel for the assault.
