Video analysis shows Hamas drills featured similar tactics to those used on Oct. 7

For years, Hamas and other Gaza terror groups published footage from major annual drills that simulated some of the tactics they eventually used during the brutal October 7 onslaught on southern Israel, according to a video analysis published Tuesday.

The exercises by the so-called “Joint Operations Room,” composed of various Palestinian terror groups, progressively became more sophisticated since they were initiated in December 2020 and featured training grounds that better resembled the sites targeted on October 7, The Wall Street Journal found, citing unnamed military analysts.

This year, the annual drill was brought forward to mid-September — just weeks before the mass invasion and massacres that killed some 1,200 people — and featured coordinated tactics that resembled “military infantry,” it said.

“Still, Israeli officials seem to have ignored or missed these warnings that mirror the tactics Hamas would use just a few weeks later,” WSJ said.

The analysis highlighted various screenshots from videos taken on October 7 and showcased them next to visually similar shots from the footage from the earlier drills that were posted to Telegram.

Among the simulated tactics that were drilled over the years and eventually used in the assault were blowing up the Israel-Gaza border fence from afar, traveling in convoys of white pickup trucks, raiding military bases, throwing grenades into concrete structures and taking soldiers hostage.

Watch: Hamas and a coalition of Palestinian militant groups posted videos of their military training to social media for years. The tactics seen in them look nearly identical to those seen in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. https://t.co/J3Zx4pMxcW https://t.co/J3Zx4pMxcW

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 12, 2023

However, the simulated tactics analyzed in the video did not include the key tactics that paralyzed the Israeli military and enabled the breaching of the border fence on October 7 — the targeting of the remote-controlled high-tech surveillance and weapons systems monitoring the barrier, combined with the firing of thousands of rockets toward military bases and towns all over the country.

Additionally, the tactics highlighted from the drills didn’t include the most shocking and noteworthy characteristics of October 7 — the systematic and premeditated invasion of towns and cities, followed by the mass murders and kidnapping of civilians in their homes, on roads and at an outdoor music festival. The vast majority of those killed and abducted during the onslaught were civilians.

However, previous reports have shown exercises that also featured mock Israeli towns and attacks on civilians.

Many details have previously been unveiled of detailed intelligence the Israel Defense Forces had obtained of Hamas attack plans during the weeks, months and years before the October 7 massacres — and which officials largely ignored, believing it to be empty boasting — as well as of senior military officers having ignored or dismissed alarms sounded by lower-ranking soldiers, of the military diverting its attention away from Gaza, and of last-minute indications of an impending attack not being urgently acted upon.