Hamas maps show plan for deep strike
Hamas’ battle plans for its attack on Israel on October 7 show that the terrorists were more ambitious than realised, according to evidence gathered by the Israeli military and disclosed yesterday.
Instructions and maps found on Hamas fighters killed in the attacks and in later raids in Gaza suggest that military bases deep inside Israel were among the targets.
The plans, some found on laptop computers taken from terrorists’ vehicles and others in notebooks and phones, give instructions to individual units. There are also booklets about weaponry, including how to strike weak spots on Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles.
The intelligence trove includes maps of Gaza, the Hamas tunnels and command points. These are being used by the Israelis in their current assault. They also give a vivid picture of the intentions during the first days of the attack, when Hamas forces were inside Israel.
More evidence has been disclosed after autopsies on the victims killed inside Israel. These show which atrocity stories are true and which are not.
Research published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed that one persistent story, that Hamas fighters beheaded babies, was untrue. In addition, no baby was burnt in an oven, a claim that emerged later.
A report that 40 babies were found dead also turned out to be false.
According to police sources quoted by Haaretz, a Bedouin Arab pregnant woman was shot in the stomach while on her way to hospital to give birth. She died with her unborn child. Only one baby was murdered: 10-month-old Mila Cohen, who died with her father in Be’eri. Five children aged between 2 and 6 were killed, four by the terrorists and one by a rocket strike. Numerous older children were also killed.
Many bodies were burnt, which made the precise circumstances of death initially hard to determine.
The chaos that enveloped Israel on that Saturday led to speculation that Hamas had been more successful than it had expected.
It was also claimed that some of the violence was perpetrated by Gazans who followed the Hamas fighters to kill and kidnap Israelis for themselves.
The notebooks found on the bodies contain instructions for kidnapping and killing civilians, including basic Arabic-Hebrew translations.
They reveal the extent of the information available to Hamas, who the Israel Defence Forces believe could have been helped by Palestinians inside the country.
The fighters had maps of the military bases and kibbutzes they intended to seize, right down to the numbers of individual homes.
One showed the men’s and women’s barracks at Tel Nof, the main air base, south of Tel Aviv. Another base shown was near Be’er Sheva, 30km east of Gaza. Both are well outside the Gaza envelope, the string of kibbutzes and towns that Hamas was able to seize in full or in part before being overwhelmed by the Israeli army.
Other finds are embarrassing for Israel’s security services. They show the extent of the training that went into the operation, which apparently went unnoticed.
Photographs from a laptop show the “Hamas Navy Seal Unit”: armed divers practising a landing on the Gaza coast. A unit of this sort was involved in attacks on the Israeli coast.
A speech given by a unit commander to his men before the attack was found. It used religious and inflammatory language to encourage the fighters, including orders to “cut off heads and chop livers’’.
Some adult Israelis were beheaded, including a soldier whose image has been circulated.
However, in the days right after the attack some soldiers and emergency workers spread information that the Israelis now accept is untrue or exaggerated.