The Intelligence services of the Israeli army they knew more than two weeks before the October 7 attacks the existence of a Hamas attack plan against Israeli military positions and kibbutzim in southern Israel with the aim of capturing hundreds of hostages, he reported the public broadcaster Kan.

The Israeli military’s surveillance and intelligence-gathering unit, Unit 8200, produced a report on September 19 detailing the training of elite Hamas units in preparation for these attacks.

Intelligence officials within Israel’s southern military command, which includes the Gaza Strip, they were aware of the report but ignored it, according to Kan, citing unnamed security officials.

According to Kan’s information, a document distributed on September 19 to the 143rd Chahal Division, also known as the Gaza Division, informed of a plan to attack military bases and kibbutzim and the capture of up to 250 hostages, including women and children.

Worst case scenario considered at the time was the possible entry of a few dozen Hamas members from three points in Israeli territory.

But on October 7, attacks by Hamas commandos and other sister armed Palestinian organizations in Israel left 1,194 people dead, most of them Israeli citizens, and 251 people kidnapped. Of the 116 hostages remaining in Gaza, 41 are dead, according to the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steadfastly refused to hold an official inquiry into the October 7 attacks before the end of the war in Gaza.

An Israeli army spokesman told AFP, in response to a question about Kan’s revelations, that the army was “conducting an investigation into the events of October 7 and those that preceded it. The purpose of this investigation is to learn and draw the necessary lessons,” said the representative, adding that “the findings of the investigation will be presented with complete transparency to the public.”