By Ira – JBizNews Desk

JERUSALEM – Hamas has told Israel, in terms Israeli officials describe as unprecedented in their bluntness, that it is prepared to carry out another attack in the style of October 7, 2023, and that it could strike wherever the opportunity exists: inside Israel, in the West Bank, or abroad.

The warning did not come through a speech or a video. Senior Hamas officials delivered it face to face last week to the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, in his Gaza office, and asked him to pass it to Israel. Alakbarov carried the message to Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy, the Israeli officer in charge of coordination with the territories, who put it in an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Halevy’s assessment of the message was stark. “This is an unusual threat message, which hasn’t been previously conveyed in this level of bluntness and directness,” he wrote.

According to the document, the Hamas officials said Israel’s military operations in Gaza, the steady westward movement of the Yellow Line separating Israeli-held ground from the rest of the Strip, and the Palestinian Authority’s cancellation of elections that had been set for November 28 are costing Hamas its grip on the ground, and that the group is unwilling to let that continue.

Intelligence Sees Preparation, Not Just Words

Israel’s security cabinet has separately been briefed that Hamas is making practical preparations for the option of renewed fighting: stockpiling weapons and moving them into civilian areas. Israeli officials believe the group is counting on Israel’s hands being tied against major new operations until after the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.

Israel’s security establishment is now examining whether Hamas could actually execute such an attack given the heavy Israeli military presence in and around Gaza. One possibility under consideration is that the threat is aimed at the more distant future rather than the coming days.

The group is also under severe financial strain. Israeli security estimates put its payroll at roughly 30,000 people across Gaza, costing about 90 million shekels ($29 million) a month, money it is struggling to raise. Hamas blames Israel for the shortfall.

Why It Matters Beyond Israel’s Borders

For readers watching from outside the region, this is not only a security story. It lands on an already strained economic backdrop, and the effects travel.

The Middle East is simultaneously managing a U.S.-Iran standoff that has driven oil above $117 a barrel, its highest price since March, and renewed attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement on Saudi Arabia that shut Riyadh’s airport for two weeks. A return to full-scale war in Gaza would add a third active front of instability in the region that produces much of the world’s energy and sits astride its busiest shipping lanes.

The practical chain works like this: escalation raises the risk premium on oil and on insuring cargo ships, and those costs flow into gasoline, airfare and the price of imported goods everywhere, including in the United States. It also weighs on investment and tourism across the region’s economies, from Israel’s technology sector to the Gulf’s financial hubs.

The diplomatic track that was supposed to prevent exactly this scenario is stalled. President Trump’s Gaza peace plan requires Hamas to disarm, which the group refuses to do, while Israel refuses to withdraw from any part of the Strip until that condition is met. Until one side moves, the threat delivered through that UN office in Gaza hangs over both the region’s security and its economy.

JBizNews Desk | Jerusalem

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