Israeli Intelligence Unit Tasked With Monitoring Hamas Wasn’t Working Weekends for Years Before Saturday Terror Attack: Report

The Israeli intelligence team that was tasked with monitoring the activity of Hamas terrorists cut both evening and weekend staffing years before Hamas' Saturday surprise attack on Israel, according to a report.

Two years ago, an officer within Israel’s intelligence division had “reduced the team of intelligence personnel who were entrusted with gathering intelligence about Hamas activities, so that the team did not work at night and on weekends," according to Kan News correspondent Roy Sharon.

The same officer, a lieutenant colonel, also appeared at a closed lecture two years ago and said that “A warning in the Gaza arena will not come from the classic sources,” meaning that intelligence on Hamas activities would come from nontraditional sources like the internet and social media rather than from wiretaps, according to Kan News.

“The reduction of the staff and the hours of operation indicate a failure in the order of priorities within the intelligence,” Kan News said in their report.

Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, October 7. Thousands of Israelis were killed, injured, raped, and kidnapped during that attack.

Many questioned how Israel’s intelligence network failed to anticipate the attack and many also blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to act, with opposition even suggesting that he should resign over the failure.

Netanyahu was reportedly personally warned twice that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran desired to attack his nation months before October 7 despite the Israeli PM's insistence that no such warnings took place.

It was also reported that Egypt had warned Israel about Hamas' upcoming attack but Netanyahu's office called that report "a complete lie." The prime minister has reportedly brushed aside any allegations he or Israel had prior knowledge Hamas was intending to attack on October 7.