Israel’s Security Agency Ignored Warning from Gaza Source About October 7 Attack

A source told Shin Bet that Hamas was planning 'a big move' that would take place shortly after Yom Kippur

Months before the October 7 attack on southern Israel, the Israeli security agency Shin Bet received a warning from one of its sources in Gaza that Hamas was planning to carry out a “big move” shortly after Yom Kippur, which took place on September 25 this year, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

The report said Shin Bet dismissed the warning as insignificant, and the intelligence did not make it to senior officials in the agency or its chief, Ronen Bar. Shin Bet sources said the lack of corroborating intelligence and the fact that the source only recently started talking to the Israeli agency contributed to the tip not being taken seriously, although they later admitted the source was considered highly reliable.

The tip was just one of many pieces of intelligence that was ignored or not taken seriously by the Israeli security establishment, which led to Israel failing to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack.

The New York Times reported in November that Israel had obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the October 7 attack more than a year before it took place, but Israeli military and intelligence officials did not believe Hamas was capable of carrying it out.

The Times report said the document Israel obtained “did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters” and added that Hamas followed the blueprint with “shocking precision.”

According to Haaretz, Israeli military officials also ignored warnings from women in the Israeli Defense Forces who worked as “spotters” on the Gaza border. The women spent their days watching surveillance footage and reported unusual Hamas activity for an entire year, but their warnings were not taken seriously.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense domestic pressure due to the intelligence failure and his previous strategy of helping prop up Hamas to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Polls show the majority of Israelis want him to resign once the Gaza war is over, giving him incentive to keep the massacre going for as long as he can.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.