Hamas Spied On Israel For Seven Years Before October 7 Attack: Report

Hamas spent seven years hacking security cameras to gather intelligence before its coordinated attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, a report has revealed.

The Palestinian group, along with allies, killed at least 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapped 251 during the assault from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. In response, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians and displaced almost the entire population since last year, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Several documents seized from Hamas operatives during Israel’s retaliatory action have revealed details regarding spying on kibbutzim (community living areas) that allegedly went on for at least seven years before the attack last year, Israel’s Channel 12 reports.

The Hamas operatives had also managed to gather details regarding an Israeli kindergarten and a health clinic. They somehow managed to get the IP addresses and serial numbers of all the security cameras that were installed in the worst-affected communities, according to reports.

Not just that, they even had the phone numbers of various security guards, who were stationed at the border, The New York Post reported.

Footage show the surveillance shots of the communities residing along the border which the Hamas militants were able to monitor.

“We see a very, very accurate and very detailed intelligence from an army… that collects intelligence on its targets for attack and is preparing files for attack,” said Shalom Ben Hanan, a former top official with Israeli spy agency Shen Bet.

The Israeli officials believe that they might have gained access to the cameras “because civilians were freely passing around the access codes to the devices on WhatsApp and Telegram, which made them prime targets for hackers,” the report said.

After infiltrating the emails of Israeli security officials, Hamas got hints about the weakest points on the border, while one of the emails, intercepted last year, showed messages about requests for security fencing along the border.

Besides all this, the group even tracked movements of top security officials like Sdot Negev Regional Council’s Chief Tamir Idan, his chief of staff Rafi Babian, and Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council chair Ofir Libstein, according to reports.

Former Eshkol Regional Council head Gadi Yarkoni shared how Hamas had even marked him as its potential target, but failed to gather information about him being moved to another location.

“Apparently they had looked into this a long time ago or they didn’t have new information, because I moved departments three years before (the October 2023 attack), and they came to my old home,” he said.

Criticising the Israeli Defense Forces, Yarkoni said “they didn’t give me any clue of any of this”. He added, “I’d be surprised if the (Israeli military) didn’t know about it.”