From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 26, 2024
Israeli intel picked up on hundreds of Hamas terrorists switching to Israeli SIMs hours before attack
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
At around midnight before Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Israeli intelligence officials identified that hundreds of terror operatives in the Gaza Strip activated Israeli SIM cards in their phones, the military censor clears for publication.
The massacre in southern Israel was launched hours later, at 6:30 a.m., during which some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel from Gaza by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages of all ages — mostly civilians — under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.
Further details surrounding the case of the SIM cards are not permitted to be published at this stage.
The censor allows some details to be published after it was reported during a live Channel 14 news broadcast.
The IDF has said it will investigate all the incidents in the lead-up to the October 7 attack.
The Times of Israel Community.