Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7 massacre in 2023, believed Israel might respond to the terrorist invasion by using nuclear weapons against Gaza, according to a document he wrote by hand on August 24, 2022. It was revealed to the public on Monday.
The document was disclosed by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) as part of an ongoing disclosure of Hamas documents captured by the IDF during its counter-invasion of Gaza.
Prior documents revealed by the ITIC or the IDF last October or earlier were also written by Sinwar on similar topics, and one was even written on the same day. But this latest document delves deep into the nuclear-weapons scenario.
Israel would, in any case, mount a powerful response
In an overlapping document, Sinwar said the window of opportunity for achieving the surprise effect of the invasion was six to 10 hours, during which Israel’s ability to launch a counteroffensive had to be impeded.
In the just-revealed document, Sinwar said Israel would in any case mount a powerful response, and he did not rule out the possibility that it would use nuclear weapons.
“Defense plan: The enemy will not hesitate to use all the means and weapons at its disposal, not only through attack but also by other means,” Sinwar wrote. “It may even use a nuclear bomb. But first, it will be surprised by the attack and descend into chaos. As an additional precaution, a popular operation should be organized to return to the villages and symbolically reoccupy them. This campaign is a battle of life or death, and there will be life, with Allah’s help.”
Despite his concern that there was a real risk Israel might use nuclear weapons in response to an invasion, “he did not abandon his messianic vision and emphasized that it would be a ‘battle of life or death,’ even if the price was the destruction of the Gaza Strip,” the ITIC wrote.
Secret Hamas internal documents
The new document also discussed an invasion force of up to 10,000 Hamas fighters for more than 200 Israeli communities and IDF outposts. Later versions of the plan, and the actual invasion, had about 2,000 Hamas terrorists in the first wave, a similar number in the second wave, and about 1,600 untrained Gazans in a disorganized third wave.
Secret Hamas internal documents that the Military Intelligence Directorate had provided to the ITIC were made available exclusively to The Jerusalem Post on June 18.
Systematically deceiving Israel into complacency
An analysis by the ITIC of six documents viewed by the Post indicated the progression of Hamas’s secret plans from 2022-2023 to systematically deceive Israel into complacency and surprise the IDF during the October 7 massacre.
Although much is already known by now about Hamas’s deception, these original documents had not previously been seen by the public. They revealed a variety of new pieces of the puzzle to understand Hamas’s strategy and tactics.
A document from September 13, 2022, was titled “Building a Strategic Deception Plan Which Will Be the Basis for a Surprise Attack by Hamas on Israel.”