Three Israeli officials reported to Axios that Israeli intelligence had “picked up signs of irregular activity among Hamas operatives in Gaza” the night before the Palestinian terrorist group attacked southern Israel but “top IDF and Shin Bet leaders decided not to put military forces on the borders of the enclave on high alert.”
They also reported that meetings took place Friday night among high-ranking Israeli officials such as IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, and head of military intelligence Aharon Halewa to analyze the unusual security data.
They were deciphering if the activity was a routine Hamas exercise or preparation for an attack. They allegedly did discuss putting IDF forces on high alert but ultimately decided to wait until they had more data.
Instead, Halevi and Bar opted to “send a small Shin Bet special force team and a team from the police counter-terrorism special unit to southern Israel for a scenario of an attempt to infiltrate across the border and conduct a limited kidnapping operation,” according to Axios.
The Prime Minister’s office denied that Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu had any knowledge of the meetings between the officers on Friday and was not made aware of the situation until 6:29 am local time the next morning when Hamas began their attack.
They reported, “When Netanyahu got the update, he immediately went to his office in Tel Aviv, held consultations and convened the security cabinet.”
One of the anonymous officials stated that the "decision was to not put out an alert based on the intelligence and it was a misjudgment."
Both the IDF and the Shin Bet declined to comment on the Axios story.
These revelations come just after a poll was released Thursday that indicated almost all Israelis believe the government was not properly prepared and the country was not secured with the majority blaming failed leadership. More than half think Bibi must resign at the end of the war.
