The terrorist organization Hamas has apparently prepared itself thoroughly for the storm on Israel on October 7: it is said to have been training for the invasion in exercises with other groups for several years. Although these maneuvers were also shared on social media, Israeli secret services were unaware of the terrorists’ deadly plans, according to BBC research.
Overcoming wire fences, penetrating enemy territory with pickup trucks, motorcycles and paragliders, forcefully entering residential buildings and kidnapping people from homes: this is the modus operandi that supporters of Hamas and other terrorist groups train in large-scale military exercises before carrying out the massacre of thousands of Israelis.
The latest exercise took place just 25 days before the major attack – unnoticed by the Mossad, which is considered the world’s largest foreign intelligence service after its US counterpart, the CIA.
Ten different organizations identified
As early as 2018, Hamas officially collaborated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second largest armed group in the Gaza Strip. The first of four joint exercises finally took place in 2020, in which numerous other groups also participated. According to the Hamas leader, this demonstrated the “permanent preparedness” of the armed groups. In total, BBC reporters were able to identify members of ten organizations in videos based on their distinctive headbands and emblems.
In the following article you will see the different headbands of the individual groups:
Exercises were organized as war games
These groups sometimes have very different ideologies – from Islamic hardliners to relatively secular ideologies. They are apparently united by their willingness to use force against Israel. Hamas also repeatedly emphasized the unity of the various groups. They were equal partners in the exercises, which were organized in the style of a war game. The maneuvers were monitored from a ‘joint operating room’.
One of the four major exercises in December 2022 simulated the storming of an Israeli military base. The training camp was just a mile from the nearest Israeli watchtower. Although it was in a depression, it is surprising that it was missed by Israeli air surveillance. According to the BBC, there were fourteen training sites in nine locations in the Gaza Strip.
In this video you can see fragments of Hamas’ military exercises:
On a Telegram channel you could see that the number of exercises increased in the weeks before the big attack. Israeli army border guards also reported unusually high levels of drone activity and suspicious military training. “There was a lot of information that they were carrying out this training – after all, the videos are public and this happened just hundreds of meters from the fence,” Brigadier General Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the Israeli army, told the Israel Defense Forces. BBC. However, the army “didn’t understand what they were training here for.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
