10 days before Oct. 7, PM ordered that Israel ‘act to contain, minimize the escalation’ in Gaza — TV

A day after Egypt’s intelligence chief flew into Ben Gurion Airport to reportedly warn that Hamas was mobilizing in Gaza and advise further Israeli concessions to the Gaza-ruling terror group to avoid a conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that Israel avoid measures that could lead to a military escalation, according to an Israeli television report.

Channel 13 news cites the minutes from the September 27 meeting, in which “the prime minister determined that [Israel] must act to contain and minimize the escalation, while using intelligence and controlled force.”

He also reportedly called “to sharpen” the warnings against the launching of arson balloons from Gaza into Israel and to ramp up humanitarian benefits, the latter apparently a reference to Israel’s reopening a day later of the crossing for Palestinians laborers employed in the country as part of an Egyptian-brokered deal for Hamas to stop border riots.

The Israeli TV network also cites an October 1 document that says Israel was poised to reach a peace deal with Saudi Arabia and should therefore “maintain a measured level of security activity,” echoing reporting from the New York Times that Netanyahu didn’t want to authorize strikes in Gaza out of concern they could harm normalization efforts vis-a-vis Riyadh.

The report adds that one of the documents includes a line about the need “to advance the operational preparedness for the targeted killings that were recommended of Hamas leaders” but doesn’t specify whether it’s from the meetings of the September 27 or October 1 meeting, or say who made that recommendation.