Hamas had a second phase to its brutal Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel. It involved joining forces with terrorists in Judea and Samaria, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing Western and Middle Eastern security officials briefed on evidence obtained by Israel.
Some of the Hamas terrorists that participated in the attack carried enough food, ammunition and equipment for several days, the officials said, and had instructions to continue deeper into the Jewish state once the initial massacre succeeded, potentially with the goal of attacking larger population centers.
Hamas also gave detailed instructions on ‘which [terror] commander should rape which [Israeli] soldiers in different places.’
Hamas maps of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, and Alumim recovered from the bodies of Hamas by Israeli first responders. Photo: IDF.
One group of terrorists carried maps and other surveillance information suggesting their plan was to continue on to the border with southern Judea, two senior Middle East intelligence officials and one former U.S. official familiar with the evidence told The Washington Post.
“They planned a second phase, including in major Israeli cities and military bases,” said one senior Israeli intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to the report, day laborers from Gaza who were permitted to enter Israel carried out reconnaissance in preparation for the terrorist onslaught. Before Oct. 7, Israel provided work permits for some 17,000 Palestinians from Gaza.
A blood-soaked child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza seen in a photo shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 11, 2023 in the aftermath of the Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7. (X/Netanyahu)
Some of the Hamas terrorists carried high-resolution maps, estimated to have been produced by drones flying as low as 150 feet, according to The Washington Post.
Hamas’s plans for the Oct. 7 attacks also included detailed instructions on “which [terror] commander should rape which [Israeli] soldiers in different places,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told The Washington Post on Sunday.
The report confirmed some of the worst atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, including one instance where terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri “cut open the belly of a pregnant woman and dragged her fetus onto the ground.”
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad stressed in an interview in October that the group was ready to “pay a price” for its actions, telling Lebanon’s LCBI network: “We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”