Source close to Hamas describes years-long campaign to fool Israel

A source close to Hamas tells Reuters the terror organization conducted a years-long campaign to fool Israel into thinking the group did not desire armed conflict and could be placated with economic incentives to maintain relative calm.

“Hamas gave Israel the impression that it was not ready for a fight,” the source tells the agency. “Hamas used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead Israel over the last months, by giving a public impression that it was not willing to go into a fight or confrontation with Israel while preparing for this massive operation.”

He says that as part of its preparations, the terror organization built a mock Israeli community to train in. “Israel surely saw them but they were convinced that Hamas wasn’t keen on getting into a confrontation,” he says.

“Hamas was able to build a whole image that it was not ready for a military adventure against Israel,” the source adds.

Former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror tells Reuters that some countries allied with the Jewish state had bought into the lie, telling Jerusalem that Hamas was showing “more responsibility.”

“We stupidly began to believe that it was true,” he says. “So, we made a mistake. We are not going to make this mistake again and we will destroy Hamas, slowly but surely.”