Hamas originally planned to launch a large-scale cross-border attack on Israel in the fall of 2022but postponed the invasion until October 7, 2023, in an effort to convince Iran and Hezbollah to join the attack, according to a report by New York Timespractically invoked by secret Hamas meetings, which revealed Israeli forces in Gaza.

To persuade Hezbollah, Hamas leaders cited the “internal situation” in Israel – which the report said appeared to refer to internal political turmoil within Israel – for the government’s push to reform the country’s judicial system. – as the main reason that “they were forced to move towards a strategic battle».

According to the NYT, although it felt it had the support of Hezbollah and Iran, Hamas concluded it might have to launch the attack alone before Israel develops a new air defense system.

The Palestinian Islamist movement is also said to have been motivated in part by its desire to disrupt the US-led initiative to establish relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The US newspaper adds that Hamas leaders tried to avoid major conflicts with Israel in the two years before the October 7, 2023 attack to “keep the enemy thinking that Hamas in Gaza wants calm».

The NYT also reports that Hamas leaders in Gaza had briefed their then-leader Ismail Haniya on “the grand plan” – Hamas’s code name for the October 7 attack.