Was America aware of the October 7th attack? What’s the story behind the ‘Jericho Wall’ document?
A U.S. official stated that their government had no prior knowledge of the so-called ‘Jericho Wall’ document published by the New York Times the day before yesterday, detailing the plan for the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th last year.
The official added, ‘There are currently no indications that the intelligence community was provided with the alleged ‘Jericho Wall’ document, and the intelligence community will certainly continue to review its information.’
Documents, emails, and interviews revealed that Israeli officials obtained Hamas‘s combat plan for the attack on October 7th over a year before it happened. However, Israeli army and intelligence officials considered its execution ‘extremely difficult’ for the movement.
The document, consisting of approximately 40 pages, named by Israeli authorities as the ‘Jericho Wall,’ detailed point by point the type of attack carried out by Hamas, resulting in the deaths of around 1,200 people. While the document did not specify the date of the attack, it described it as a ‘systematic assault aimed at invading fortifications around the Gaza Strip, seizing Israeli cities, and storming key military bases, including the headquarters of a military division.’
‘Hamas followed the plan meticulously,’ according to the document, which called for ‘launching a barrage of rockets at the beginning of the attack, and drones to destroy security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, in addition to the influx of militants into Israel collectively using sailplanes, motorcycles, and on foot.’ All of this indeed happened during the attack.
The plan also included details about the location and size of the Israeli military forces, communication centers, and other sensitive information, raising questions about how Hamas gathered its intelligence and whether there were leaks within the Israeli security establishment. The document was widely circulated among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts concluded that an attack of this magnitude and ambition ‘exceeded Hamas‘s capabilities.’
Israeli officials secretly acknowledged that ‘if the army had taken these warnings seriously and redirected significant reinforcements to the south, where Hamas attacked, Israel could have mitigated or perhaps prevented the attacks, but the Israeli army was not prepared to face the influx of fighters from Gaza.’
It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders were also briefed on the document, according to the New York Times.
