Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s special covert operations and surveillance unit, had stopped monitoring the hand-held radios of Hamas members in the Gaza Strip a year before the October 7 attack, calling the operation “a waste of effort”, according to today’s New York Times article.

In an extensive report on the Israeli Intelligence fiasco which led to October 7 massacre it is also reported that the American Intelligence services had largely stopped collecting information on Hamas in recent years, having been convinced that Israel had managed to control the dangers arising from the activity of the organization that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

The official estimate of the Israeli military and Israel’s National Security Council Intelligence services was as of May 2021 that Hamas has no reason to launch an attack from Gazaan attack that would provoke a devastating response from Israel, five unnamed people familiar with the Israeli leadership’s assessments and conclusions regarding Hamas told The New York Times.

Instead, Israeli intelligence believed that Hamas was trying to incite violence against Israelis in the West Bankrun by its rival, the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli security officials have been trying for months to warn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the political upheaval caused by his internal agenda, and in particular his plan for the reform of the judiciary in his interest, it had weakened Israel’s security and strengthened the country’s enemies.

The Israeli prime minister continued to implement this policy. One day in July, he even refused to meet a general who wanted to inform him of the existence of a threat based on classified information, according to Israeli officials cited by the newspaper.