Refael Hayoun, a civilian involved in gathering intelligence on Hamas' communications media, on Wednesday told Kan Reshet Bet that Hamas began practicing for the October 7 infiltration, kidnappings, and massacres at the end of 2019.
"Since 2019, I have heard training for an invasion, kidnapping, and murder," he said. "I warned intelligence and defense bodies. They told me that they are living in a fantasy. Five months ago they revoked my license at the request of a military source. I lost 37 friends."
Hayoun added that at the start of the training, Hamas practiced infiltration into two towns, as well as abducting Israelis into Gaza: "Slowly, slowly, with time, at the end of 2022, it was really from all directions towards all the towns - from Zikim (north of Gaza - ed.) to Kerem Shalom (at the border with Egypt - ed.), it was just horrific."
"We just heard everything. We heard everything they did in their trainings, that they were training for this for years."
When asked how he responded when he saw the infiltration on the morning of the Simchat Torah holiday, Hayoun said, "I just grabbed my head. I warned all of the sources, these ones, those ones, who are supposed to be pretty prepared for things like this."
"They told me that such a scenario would never happen, and certainly they hear and understand and they claim that it's just an exercise and they are living in a fantasy."