'Israel' astonished by Hamas' intelligence, cyber capabilities: Media
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The Israeli news website Israel Hayom says Hamas hacked dozens of cameras in Israeli settlements and the phones of Israeli soldiers before October 7.
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Palestinians celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, October 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)
The Israeli news website Israel Hayom pointed to a "state of astonishment" within Israeli intelligence agencies after discovering Hamas' intelligence and cyber capabilities.
According to the news website, the Palestinian Resistance group hacked dozens of cameras in Israeli Gaza Envelope settlements before launching Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 and also hacked the phones of Israeli soldiers using cyber capabilities.
It also highlighted that Hamas managed to develop monitoring capabilities, including flying drones over Gaza and capturing aerial images of Israeli settlements.
Experts told Israel Hayom that the Palestinian Resistance group possesses top-notch intelligence capabilities but "Israel" had downplayed them until October 7.
This isn't the first time Israeli media has acknowledged the intelligence capabilities of Hamas. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth previously suggested that the Palestinian Resistance movement had been accumulating these capabilities since before its operation on October 7.
Yossi Yehoshua, the military affairs analyst for the newspaper, detailed that the military wing of Hamas, al-Qassam Brigades, possessed documents containing structural details of the Israeli occupation military's Paratroopers Brigade, as well as its social composition, in addition to pictures of the former brigade commander and other officers who had recently completed their service.
In early December 2023, The New York Times also reported that Israeli officials had received intelligence indicating that Hamas was gearing up for a significant operation a year before the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, but they chose to dismiss the warnings, arguing that they were "beyond Hamas' capabilities."
