Senior Hamas officials claim that preparations and planning for an attack on Israeli communities have been in the works for a decade.
The Arab language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, citing senior Hamas officials, reported that the idea to infiltrate Israeli communities near the Gaza border was thought about, and preparations for it began before Operation Protective Edge in 2014, but it was put on hold when the war began. The planning was renewed two years ago following Operation Guardian of the Walls.
For two years, thousands of terrorists underwent specialized training and tests.
Shortly after the start of training, the reason for which was unknown to its participants, 70 of the most outstanding elite operatives were selected for the operation. They took a special oath before their commanders not to reveal any secrets about their training and not to talk about any plans related to that training. The officials noted that the terrorists were not aware of a clear and immediate plan to carry out any attack but only received special training about storming communities.
The report also states that the decision regarding the timing of the attack was known only by five individuals: Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, his brother Muhammad, the leader of Hamas' military wing, Muhammad Deif, and two additional senior officials.
A few days before the massacre, the five notified the battalion commanders of the plans and the logistic planning for it but still did did not specify when it would be put ininto action.
Three days before the attack, an additional meeting was held between commanders of various ranks, during which they received operational instructions but were still not informed of the exact date.
The battalion commanders played their role in preparing their selected forces for the mission, while Ayman Siam, commander of the missile unit in the Gaza Strip, who was eliminated during the war, received special instructions to prepare to launch hundreds of missiles coinciding with the start of the attack.
The newspaper noted that the Hamas leaders outside of Gaza, including the head of the chairman of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and his deputy, Salah al-Arouri, were only informed of the plans during the final stages of planning and were told about its execution hours before it began, along with the terrorists on the ground.
The sources explained that the date of October 7th was determined following field reports from monitoring units that confirmed complete silence on the border. Then, on Friday, the five officials decided that the most appropriate time was Saturday morning, an official holiday in Israel. At midnight on the 7th, they gave the order to prepare. The field commanders and fighters of the “Elite Forces” received instructions and began to move until the dawn hours, and then the operation began.