Hamas chiefs’ correspondence shows how Israel misjudged results of May 2021 clash

Newly released Hamas documents found in Gaza show that Israel seriously misunderstood the impact of its 2021 operation in Gaza, which the terror group viewed as a victory that encouraged it to launch the October 7 massacre over two years later, Hebrew media reported.

At the time, Operation Guardian of the Walls was painted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an “extraordinary success,” and he vowed to implement a much tougher stance against the terror group’s rocket fire.

But Channel 12 news on Saturday revealed letters exchanged by Hamas’s then-Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and the terror group’s leader at the time, Ismail Haniyeh, showing that the two men considered the 11-day conflict a defeat for Israel.

Sinwar advocated the strategy of proposing a long-term ceasefire, or hudna, with Israel, as a way of either isolating it from the international community or creating division within Israeli society.

Both leaders have since been killed — Haniyeh in a covert operation in Iran in July 2024, and Sinwar by IDF troops in Gaza later that year.

“It is likely that this move, which would be acceptable to most countries in the world, would not be acceptable to the occupation [Israel] and would therefore increase their isolation and disconnection from them. If the occupation decides to go in this direction [of a hudna], it would tear it apart from within and lead to internal division and civil war,” the letter by Sinwar reportedly said.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar holds the child of an Al-Qassam Brigades fighter, who was killed in the recent fighting with Israel, with a Kalashnikov rifle in his hand during a rally in Gaza City on May 24, 2021 (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

Haniyeh, in response, congratulated Sinwar on his “clear victory” in the fighting.

“The flag of the Al Qassam movement is waved all over the world, and millions cheer to the dear chief of staff of the resistance, Muhammad Deif, who won a divine and glorious victory,” Haniyeh wrote, referencing the Hamas military wing chief, who was also killed by Israel in July 2024.

Sinwar responded on May 30, 2021: “Praise be to God who granted us victory, humiliated the enemy’s leadership. We are close to destroying their country.”

Throughout those 11 days in May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired over 4,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israel. A dozen civilians were killed in Israel during the fighting, along with one soldier. Over 250 Palestinians were killed, roughly half of whom the IDF claimed were combatants.

It has previously been reported that from that point until October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a years-long campaign of deception to convince Israel it was not really interested in war.

Additionally, while Netanyahu claimed in the wake of the 11-day operation that the Israel Defense Forces had destroyed “a considerable portion” of Hamas’s internal tunnel routes — its “metro” — senior Hamas officials said otherwise in a meeting with then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani, Channel 12 reported.

A tunnel found in the central Gaza Strip, in a handout image published August 9, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

“‘The ‘metro’ was not damaged at all, and only the offensive tunnel network was slightly damaged and will be repaired soon,” the Hamas officials said during the meeting in Beirut on July 26, 2021, according to the report.

Months after the war began, senior defense officials told The New York Times that Hamas’s tunnel network was far more extensive than they had initially believed.

Israel believed Hamas had been deterred from starting a war until October 7, 2023, when terrorists burst across the Gaza border, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to the Strip.

Israel then launched a massive air and ground operation in Gaza, vowing to bring home all the hostages and dismantle Hamas’s rule over Gaza.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.