Unveiling Sinwar’s Plan: How He Prepared the October 7, 2023 Attack in the Shadows
The events of October 7, 2023, continue to reveal new developments within Hamas. From time to time, more details and secrets emerge significantly. Recently, a report uncovering new revelations from within Hamas was published by Israeli media, exposing communications described as a “meticulous strategic plan” led by Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s military wing.
The documents, leaked by anonymous sources, reveal how Hamas exploited Israel’s “Guardian of the Walls” operation in 2021, using it as a prelude to the later attack that shocked Israel to an unprecedented degree.
Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Meticulous Planning
According to the leaked documents, Hamas’s main strategy was to capitalize on any lull or ceasefire that could follow military escalations. Communications between Sinwar and various Hamas leaders in Gaza and Tehran show that the “ceasefire” following the Israeli offensive in 2021 served as an ideal environment to instill a false sense of security within Israeli society, allowing Hamas to quietly expand its military capabilities.
One of the documents, signed by Sinwar himself, stated that he viewed the “truce” as a strategic outcome granting Hamas “double gains”: while Israel believed it had dealt severe blows to Hamas, the movement was in fact strengthening its positions and expanding its capacity to launch significant operations — a goal achieved two years later with the devastating attack on Israeli soil.
The Israeli Illusion: “An Imminent Internal Collapse”
In communications with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, who was later killed in Tehran, Sinwar wrote in one of his letters: “If the Israeli occupation chooses to continue this truce, it will lead to its isolation and disconnection from the world, causing internal division and a civil war.”
This strategic vision reflected Hamas’s intention to push Israel toward an internal crisis that could cause the collapse of its political and social systems, exploiting every vulnerability opened by calculated military operations.
Sinwar further noted that, despite Israeli propaganda promoting the success of the “Guardian of the Walls” operation, Hamas was fully aware that many targets Israel claimed to have destroyed, such as Gaza’s vast tunnel network, had only suffered minor damage.
Tactical Deception and Devastating Assault
The October 7, 2023 attack was a deliberate escalation, carefully planned over years. Hamas misled the Israeli forces into believing they had successfully destroyed its military capabilities.
Despite the Israeli army’s assurances about the destruction of the tunnels, the communications reveal that under Sinwar’s leadership, Hamas had kept much of its underground infrastructure intact, along with numerous weapon systems, safely hidden and ready for deployment on the day of the massive assault.
This attack was not a spontaneous event but the culmination of years of gradual escalation between Hamas and Israel, beginning with the “Sword of Jerusalem” operation launched by Hamas in May 2021, in response to what it viewed as attacks on holy sites in Jerusalem. Israel’s “Guardian of the Walls” operation, launched in retaliation to rocket fire from Gaza, marked merely the first chapter of a much broader conflict.
