“The Israeli security apparatus was blind to the activities of Hamas’ armed military wing,” according to Le Monde.
The Israeli security apparatus “remained blind” to the activities of the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas ahead of the group’s attack on October 7, a new report from the French newspaper Le Monde reveals.
Citing anonymous sources, who based their account on the reports sent by Washington to its British, German, and French allies, Le Monde highlighted “the limitations of Israeli and American intelligence on Hamas and the overemphasis on technological surveillance”.
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According to the French newspaper, “Hamas itself never imagined that its operation could reach such proportions”.
The reports also categorically rule out any coordination between the Palestinian Resistance, the Lebanese Resistance group Hezbollah, and Iran ahead of the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.
“The Israeli security apparatus was blind to the activities of Hamas’ armed military wing,” according to Le Monde.
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“The strict compartmentalization between the political and military branches of Hamas would be one of the keys to understanding an operation that has escaped all radars,” Le Monde suggested.
Moreover, according to the report, the attention of Israeli intelligence in the months preceding Hamas’ operation was focused on the Occupied West Bank, which had witnessed an increasing armed resistance in the last year and a half.
“The Shin Bet was asked to concentrate its efforts on the security of the Jewish settlements and not on the coastal enclave,” Le Monde wrote.
#HEZBOLLAH: The resistance targeted an Israeli tank with missiles at the Avivim barracks, killing and wounding its crew members.
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Hamas was reportedly surprised by the lack of reaction from Israeli security forces, or, at least, “by the time it took them to respond to the intrusion of its armed commandos”.
According to the US report, cited by Le Monde, Egyptian informants in Gaza did not identify the security threat either.
This information, according to Le Monde, was met with doubt by the European countries that received the briefing.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
