Zein Khalil
28 December 2023•Update: 28 December 2023
JERUSALEM
A source who worked for Israel’s Shin Bet security agency in the Gaza Strip passed along specific information that the Palestinian group Hamas was planning to carry out a major attack in early October, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported late Wednesday
According to the report, the information reached Shin Bet during the summer, clearly stating that "Hamas was planning a major move in the week following Yom Kippur."
However, the information was not passed on to senior officials in Israel because it was believed that additional supporting information would come if such a thing was imminent, it said.
It further pointed out that “the warning received in the summer was disclosed again as part of Shin Bet's investigations into the source of the intelligence failure.”
Officials from the agency said that “through the investigation, no additional information supporting that intelligence was found.”
Shin Bet responded to the channel's report, saying, “at this time, we are focusing on the fighting. Shin Bet is ready to conduct in-depth and comprehensive investigations for the purpose of learning and extracting lessons, and in this context, all available information will be examined.”
At least 21,110 Palestinians have been killed and 55,243 others injured in relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, according to local health authorities.
Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala
