Report: The alert IDF sent PM’s office hours before Oct. 7 attack said Hamas activity wasn’t unusual

The Kan public broadcaster publishes the content of an alert sent by the IDF to the intelligence officers of seven key Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, hours before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which seemingly confirms the premier’s contention that it was framed as non-urgent.

The existence of the memo was revealed on Saturday by Channel 12 news, which reported that it set out “numerous” worrying signs of Hamas activity in Gaza that night and that Netanyahu’s intelligence officer did not pass the information up the chain.

In response to that report, the Prime Minister’s Office said the intelligence officer received the message along with a report that Hamas was operating as usual and that the IDF Southern Command would hold a discussion in the morning. He forwarded the message to Netanyahu’s military secretary Avi Gil but decided not to wake him up as the message did not indicate any urgency.

Kan’s report today appears to support Netanyahu’s version of events.

“Today and yesterday SIM cards were activated in certain ares of Gaza,” the memo sent at 2.45 a.m. that night reportedly said, referring to SIM cards Hamas fighters activated ahead of their invasion and onslaught. “This isn’t out of the ordinary, since last year as well such checks were carried out by Hamas.

“The understanding of the [Gaza] Division and the [Southern] Command, Hamas isn’t deviating from its routine [activities]. The information is initial and Hamas is showing characteristics of routine activity. A discussion of the matter will be held by the Southern Command’s intelligence officer at 8:30 a.m. and by the [Southern Command] commander at 10 a.m.”

Kan adds that only after that night’s SIM card activation was the Southern Command chief, Yaron Finkelman, updated about the fact that this had happened the previous night as well.

The report says that during that crucial night, Finkelman asked if the developments meant the alertness level should be raised, and received a negative answer.