Netanyahu claims Hamas will try to attack Israel to influence upcoming election

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Tuesday that Hamas will try to carry out an attack ahead of the October 27 election, while insisting that Israel was prepared for such a possibility.

“Because Hamas is so weak, it will try to challenge us with the remnants of its forces ahead of the election in an attempt to influence it,” Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting. “We are prepared for this. First and foremost, we will thwart such attempts, and in any event, we will respond with overwhelming force if they make that mistake.”

The prime minister said Israel has “turned the tables” since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, which sparked what he has framed as a “seven-front war.”

“Israel is the strongest country in the Middle East, and our enemies are weaker than ever,” he declared. “I say to all our enemies: Look at what we have done to you on seven fronts… Don’t mess with us.”

But despite three years of fighting and pledges from Netanyahu of “total victory,” Hamas remains in power in Gaza, albeit controlling less than 50 percent of the Strip. Netanyahu’s opponents argue that his reliance on far-right coalition partners demanding the depopulation of Gaza prevented him from approving the establishment of an alternative government to Hamas.

Opposition lawmakers have also accused Netanyahu of trying to stir panic ahead of the Knesset election, which is just three weeks away.

Recent polling indicates a deadlock between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs, with a recent Times of Israel survey projecting that the blocs would be tied at 53 seats each if elections were held today, with the two Arab parties holding the balance.

A similar warning of a potential Hamas attack was issued earlier Tuesday by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said in a statement that he had instructed the IDF to “increase its readiness and be prepared for any possible scenario in Gaza” ahead of the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on Wednesday.

Katz cited “intelligence indicating that Hamas intends to try to carry out assaults and attacks against our forces in Gaza on that day.”

In his statement, the defense minister said the IDF must prepare for worst-case scenarios, and “forceful action should be taken in response to any intelligence or warning to thwart any threat, in addition to the forceful activity already being carried out.”

If Israeli forces are harmed, Katz said, “Hamas and the population of Gaza will pay a heavy price, beyond all proportion.”

Last year, on the second anniversary of Hamas’s devastating October 7 onslaught, terrorists in Gaza launched a rocket at the border community of Netiv Ha’asara.

There have been no rockets launched from Gaza that crossed into Israeli territory since then. A rocket launched by terrorists in Gaza in January fell short inside the Strip.

Last week, Netanyahu also warned that Israel’s enemies may attempt to attack ahead of the elections, prompting demands from opposition leaders to provide them with details on the ostensible threat to ensure it was not an attempt by the prime minister to undermine the vote.

Netanyahu then met with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid to brief him, after which Lapid said there was no reason to panic the public, denounced Netanyahu for issuing what he called a campaign video, and said the prime minister should draft “the 15,000 Haredim the IDF needs” if he is so worried about security.

The next day, a copilot on a flydubai flight full of Israelis from Dubai to Tel Aviv tried to hijack and crash the plane, but was subdued by several passengers on board.

Israeli security officials currently assess that the Omani copilot acted alone, but the Israeli government has since come under fire for failing to uphold security protocols that would have prevented a citizen of a country without ties to Israel from being allowed into the cockpit in the first place.

Katz to ministers: IDF preparing for possibility of war with Palestinian Authority

Katz also briefed ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday about the IDF’s preparations in the West Bank, telling them that he ordered the army to be ready for a scenario of war with the Palestinian Authority.

No evidence justifying such a scenario was publicly provided by the defense minister, and Katz is known for provocative remarks, which have increased in recent weeks ahead of the October 27 election.

The army has been ordered to train for the possibility of attacks on settlers and IDF soldiers by “jihadists” inspired by Hamas’s October 7 invasion, Katz told ministers, according to a statement from his office.

The defense minister said the IDF is also planning for a potential scenario in which PA security forces and gunmen from the Ramallah-affiliated Tanzim “turn their guns against settlers and IDF troops” in the West Bank and along its border.

“In such a case, war would be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF would launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with a detailed plan formulated and approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by me, based on the principles outlined for the IDF,” he said.

Katz said such a campaign against the PA in the West Bank “would be short and forceful and would include the use of ground and air forces and special means, the elimination and expulsion of senior officials, the destruction of weapons, and the large-scale evacuation of residents and destruction of terror infrastructure inside the cities and in all refugee camps… in accordance with the Gaza and Lebanon models, alongside reinforcing forces and protecting Israeli communities.”

“There will not be an intifada lasting years as there was in the past, but rather a short and forceful war with a clear decision and a change in the reality,” he said.

While Israel’s security establishment has long touted the IDF’s security cooperation with the PA in the West Bank for providing stability in the territory, the Netanyahu government has worked to substantially weaken the PA, withholding billions of dollars from the Palestinian governing body, in violation of the 1990s Oslo Accords.

Katz last month threatened “full-scale war” against the PA if it prepared an attack similar to the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught.

Katz also did not include in his statement any mention of rampant settler violence in the West Bank, where Palestinians have reported coming under attack multiple times a day. Civilians have been shot and beaten, property has been destroyed, but very few arrests, if any, are ever made.

Critics accuse the government of providing tacit support for the violence, as senior cabinet member and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for encouraging Palestinians to flee the territory. The phenomenon has been cited in the decisions by an increasing number of Western countries to sanction Israel.