Under Hamas’s original plan, it would have hit many other major Israeli cities and IDF bases and go as far as the West Bank, where it has allies in the form of local terrorist cells. Hamas’s original plan for October 7 went beyond just a massacre in the Gaza border area and taking hundreds of hostages, but to continue their assault up to the border with the West Bank, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing Western and Middle Eastern security officials briefed on collected evidence. This information was obtained from numerous maps, notes, supplies, and other written instructions found among the bodies of dead Hamas terrorists in the Gaza border area, as well as from interrogations of Hamas captives. “We know from interrogations that Hamas came in with detailed plans of their attack, including which commander should rape which soldiers in different places,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained to The Washington Post. Hamas planned to go much farther into Israel on October 7 On October 7, Hamas terrorists executed a meticulously planned mass infiltration of Israel, under the cover of a heavy rocket bombardment. There, they managed to wreak havoc on at least 22 Israeli towns and military outposts near the Gaza border throughout the day, killing around 1,200 Israelis and abducting hundreds of people to bring back to Gaza as hostages. The farthest the Hamas terrorists were able to infiltrate was the city of Ofakim in the Western Negev, around halfway between Gaza and the West Bank. Children’s toys and personal items lie on the bloodstained floor of a child’s bedroom, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel October 17, 2023. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS) However, according to the Washington Post article, the evidence suggests they were planning on going much farther, hitting major cities and military bases, and could have ended up making it to the West Bank, where Hamas has allies in the form of many local armed Palestinian terrorist cells. “If that had occurred, it would have been a huge propaganda win — a symbolic blow not only against Israel but also against the Palestinian Authority,” a former US security official told The Washington Post under the condition of anonymity.
via jpost: Hamas planned to push October 7 massacre to the West Bank border – report
