JERUSALEM - For more than two years, Yahya Sinwar huddled with his top Hamas commanders and plotted what they hoped would be the most devastating and destabilizing attack on Israel in the militant group's four-decade history.
Minutes of Hamas' secret meetings, seized by the Israeli military and obtained by The New York Times, provide a detailed record of the planning for the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, as well as Sinwar's determination to persuade Hamas' allies, Iran and Hezbollah, to join the assault or at least commit to a broader fight with Israel.
The documents consisted of minutes from 10 secret planning meetings of a small group of Hamas political and military leaders in the run-up to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The minutes included 30 pages of previously undisclosed details about the way Hamas' leadership works and the preparations that went into its attack.
The documents, which were verified by the Times, laid out the main strategies and assessments of the leadership group:
• Hamas initially planned to carry out the attack, which it code-named "the big project", in the autumn of 2022. But the group delayed executing the plan as it tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate.
• As they prepared arguments aimed at Hezbollah, the Hamas leaders said that Israel's "internal situation" - an apparent reference to turmoil over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious plans to overhaul the judiciary - was among the reasons they were "compelled to move towards a strategic battle".
• In July 2023, Hamas dispatched a top official to Lebanon, where he met 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 did not say how detailed a plan was presented by Hamas to its allies.
This story is from the October 14, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the October 14, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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