A USB containing detailed instructions on how to make a "cyanide dispersion device" was found on the deceased body of a Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 attack, President Isaac Herzog told Sky News on Sunday.
"A USB device found on Hamas terrorists proves that the murderous terrorist organization planned to use cyanide against the civilian population, just as the al-Qaeda terrorist organization operates," said Herzog’s office.
The instructions on how to build the cyanide-based chemical weapon came from an al-Qaeda manual from 2003.
“Cutting off the heads of babies, a manual for abducting captives and instructions for the use of chemical substances for mass murder, are murderous patterns of action that testify to the attempt of the terrorist organization Hamas to follow ISIS,” added Herzog’s office. “The State of Israel will continue to be on the attack against the brutal attempts of the terrorist organization Hamas and out of its basic right to protect its independence and the security of its residents.”
“What the State of Israel experienced is pure evil, which must be uprooted,” said Herzog to Sky News. “In the face of this evil - we witness people around the world who support this terrorism, we see them in demonstrations in London and other places in the world. Why do you support evil? What is behind it? Do you really believe that people should be tortured? Civilians or pregnant women? Elderly people with dementia? People who did only good?”
The origins of the weapon
The Foreign Ministry reportedly sent the original file in English to Israeli embassies and asked them to privately pass it along to their host governments, Axios reporter Barak Ravid reported on Sunday.