Israel’s Channel 13 has revealed documents that it said show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored recommendations from security and military officials to target senior Hamas officials during two meetings held before the 7 October 2023 attacks, known among Palestinians as the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’.
The two meetings’ documents and recommendations to target Hamas leaders
The channel said it had obtained the full documents from the two meetings Netanyahu held with security officials on the eve of the attacks. It said their contents indicated that security and military leaders had recommended eliminating senior Hamas officials, contrary to what it described as Netanyahu’s previous claims about the positions presented to him.
The first document is dated 27 September 2023 and states, according to the channel, that the prime minister had decided it was necessary to take measures aimed at containing and limiting the escalation, alongside using force against Hamas in a measured and controlled manner. The second document was written a week before the 7 October attacks.
Normalisation efforts and their impact on the security decision
It said Israel had been on the verge of reaching a normalisation agreement with Saudi Arabia, and therefore saw the need to maintain a balanced level of security activity in the Gaza Strip. Yashar Gadi Eisenkot, the head of a party and one of Netanyahu’s leading rivals for the post of prime minister, commented: “The documents prove beyond any doubt that security officials recommended that the prime minister launch a pre-emptive strike in the Gaza Strip.”
Eisenkot added that Netanyahu’s submission of a false document to the state comptroller was “tantamount to an earthquake”. He accused the prime minister of lying, saying that this was no longer surprising when it came to Netanyahu, who had made a habit of lying and continued to do so.
The disclosure came days after a report by Yedioth Ahronoth said Netanyahu had received warnings about the possibility of a Hamas attack before 7 October 2023, but had not held a meeting to discuss them. The newspaper said: “It has become clear that Netanyahu received warnings of a possible Hamas attack and did not hold a single meeting,” describing this as “gross negligence”.
The newspaper quoted unnamed security officials as saying that Netanyahu had not informed the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet, the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, or the Military Intelligence Directorate, Aman, of the warnings. It added that the warnings had reached the country’s leader, who could have held lengthy discussions and demanded that the head of Aman make a greater effort, but did not do so.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas and Palestinian factions launched an attack on military bases and Israeli settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israelis. Hamas said at the time that the attack was in response to “the daily crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people and their holy sites, particularly Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
