Hamas Carried Detailed Maps for Targeted Israeli Towns, Communities: Report

Hamas terrorists were armed with detailed maps highlighting targeted Israeli towns, as well as military bases and incursion routes last week as they breached Israel's borders, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Some also carried tactical guides identifying weak spots on Israeli army armored vehicles, the newspaper noted.

The material was recovered from the bodies of dead fighters and was seen by the Journal, the paper reported.

The documents indicate that the militants set out from the start to attack civilian areas. They are also a testament to the uniquely sophisticated intelligence gathering for the deadly mission by Hamas.

“They knew exactly what the targets were going to be,” Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University, told the Journal. “There is nothing close to this level of planning in any steps Hamas had done in the past.”

One 14-page “top secret” document — in Arabic, as was all the information — carefully detailed a plan for infiltrating a small kibbutz near Gaza, and taking residents hostage "for negotations." Maps and aerial photos of the area were included.

The plan warned that the invaders would have to prepare for a response by Israeli forces in as little as three minutes.

“It shows sophistication, systematic intelligence collection, use of human sources, use of open intelligence sources and information obtained through cyberattacks,” said Eyal Pinko, a former security services officer, of the Hamas plan for Mefalsim. 

The kibbutz, Mefalsim, was attacked by Hamas militants. But a resident told the Journal that a volunteer security force was able to repel the invasion and no one was injured.

Nevertheless, Hamas' plans revealed "sophistication, systematic intelligence collection, use of human sources, use of open intelligence sources and information obtained through cyberattacks,” former security services officer Eyal Pinko told the newspaper.

A map for another community chillingly revealed the location of likely crowds, a synagogue and a kindergarten.

Israeli security sources are now poring over the seized documents.

Hamas’ planning for Saturday’s attack began in 2021, Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida said in a statement on the militants' Telegram account Thursday. The result was “more than we had planned,” he wrote.

As of Thursday morning, at least 1,300 people had been killed in Israel, and at least another 1,354 had been killed in retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

At least 27 Americans are among the dead, while 14 US citizens remain unaccounted for, according to the White House