Hamas carried out Oct. 7 invasion to torpedo Israel-Saudi normalization

Seized Hamas documents reveal the terror group planned the 2023 invasion in part to block normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

By World Israel News Staff

Hamas launched its October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel in part over concerns that Saudi Arabia was on the brink of normalizing relations with the Jewish state, according to Hamas documents seized during the fighting in Gaza.

Captured Hamas documents indicate that the group viewed a possible Saudi-Israel normalization agreement as a strategic threat and discussed the need for an exceptional escalation shortly before Oct. 7.

The documents, analyzed by the Amit Institute for Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Research, point to internal Hamas discussions about how to disrupt US-backed efforts to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia.

Hamas established a dedicated bureau in February 2022 to coordinate its campaign against normalization.

The documents reportedly describe efforts to inflame violence in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem as a way to weaken the diplomatic process, drawing on lessons Hamas leaders believed they had learned from the Second Intifada.

The most direct evidence concerns a Hamas leadership meeting days before the attack. According to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, then-Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar presented a document two weeks before Oct. 7 focused on Saudi-Israel normalization and singled out Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“Saudi Arabia has a special status at the Arab and Islamic level and great influence, and this is a regrettable, troubling, condemnable, and puzzling step,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.

At an Oct. 2, 2023, Hamas political bureau meeting in Gaza, Sinwar reportedly described Saudi-Israel normalization as a regional threat and said Hamas might not be able to stop it entirely but could disrupt it and strip it of legitimacy.

“There is no escape from an extraordinary action by the movement and the forces of the resistance axis in order to create a major shift or strategic turning point,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.

“There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly,” Sinwar added, warning that such a deal would “open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.”

Sinwar said Hamas should activate a plan it had been preparing for about two years “to bring about a major move or a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause.”

The newly reported documents do not establish that Saudi-Israel normalization was the sole reason for the Oct. 7 assault. They do, however, add to evidence that Hamas leaders saw the emerging Saudi track as a major strategic danger.

In the months before Oct. 7, the US was pushing for a Saudi-Israel deal that officials described as a potential expansion of the 2020 Abraham Accords, under which Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

A Saudi agreement would have marked a far larger regional shift because of Riyadh’s religious and political weight in the Arab and Muslim worlds.