Report claims IDF ‘Devil’s Advocate’ intel unit, days before October 7, backed assessment that Hamas wanted continued calm

Two weeks before Hamas’s October 7 invasion, the IDF’s Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman reportedly asked the Military Intelligence Directorate’s research division to question the widespread assumption that the Gaza-ruling terror group was deterred from attacking Israel and that the ongoing disturbances Hamas was organizing at the border fence were merely designed to attain improved terms for ongoing calm.

Channel 12 News reports tonight that a team was indeed set up in the division’s “Devil’s Advocate” (“Ifcha Mistabra”) unit, headed by a Col. S.

“Several days” before October 7, 2023, the team reported back with the conclusion that Hamas was indeed fueling disturbances at the fence solely in order to gain better terms for ongoing calm, an apparent reference to provisions for work permits in Israel, eased import restrictions and so on.

“There is no other scenario,” the check reportedly concluded. “Hamas is very interested in an arrangement,” rather than an escalation.

In short, the report says, the Devil’s Advocate team “accepted the stance” of all the other military and security echelons.

Channel 12 gives no source for the report. The IDF’s published probes surrounding the October 7 failures have made no mention of any such check of the catastrophically false assessment regarding Hamas’s intentions.