Israeli intelligence officials now believe that the violent demonstrations and repeated clashes along the Gaza border fence in the months leading up to October 7 were part of a deliberate Hamas operation aimed at preparing for the massive terror assault on southern Israel.

According to newly uncovered intelligence assessments, Hamas operatives exploited the protests to study Israeli military response patterns and locate vulnerable areas along the security barrier.

Israeli officials say terrorists posing as civilian demonstrators, balloon launchers, and rioters collected operational intelligence during the disturbances and even marked specific sections of the fence that would later serve as breach points during the invasion.

The findings, first reported Sunday by the Israeli news outlet Srugim, indicate that Hamas identified 114 separate locations along the Gaza border fence in advance of the attack.

Those same locations were reportedly activated simultaneously on October 7, when more than 6,000 Hamas Nukhba terrorists and armed Gazans poured into southern Israel.

According to the report, some of the breaches were narrow openings intended for individual gunmen, while others were large enough to allow motorcycles and pickup trucks to move through rapidly, transforming parts of the border into what Israeli officials described as a “terror highway” leading directly into Israeli communities.

The intelligence conclusions are reportedly supported by an internal Hamas document attributed to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Officials involved in the assessment say the document indicates that Hamas leadership believed Israel had completely misread the purpose of the border unrest and failed to grasp the broader military operation being quietly developed behind the scenes.

Israeli intelligence sources cited in the report said Hamas determined that Israeli officials “did not take the staged protests seriously” and failed to realize that the disturbances were being used to gather intelligence and rehearse the large-scale infiltration that unfolded on October 7.

{Matzav.com}