TV: Ministers criticize security officials for bad intel on Hamas plans for escalation

Security cabinet officials have criticized the security establishment for failing to predict Hamas’s readiness to engage in a major escalation with Israel, Channel 12 news reports.

An unnamed cabinet member tells the network officials repeatedly downplayed the potential that Hamas would launch a major offensive.

“The security apparatuses fell asleep on their watch and wrongly assessed Hamas’s motivation,” he says. “This was not a moment’s decision, but a calculated plan by Hamas leaders. The intel radar was not tuned to the correct wavelength.”

However, another security cabinet member tells the network that security officials had, in fact, in recent days changed their tune and spoken of the potential of escalation in Gaza.