Security officials wrote right before Oct. 7th: ‘Hamas doesn’t want war’

Shin Bet was critical the quotes were published selectively without their warning ‘high alert must be maintained for a round of fighting amid an emergency on the [Gaza] front.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli security agency Shin Bet wrote in documents shortly before October 7th that “Hamas doesn’t want war.” Still, Shin Bet criticizes the publication of the quotes, saying they were taken out of context.

The documents refer to disturbances at Israel’s border with Gaza when terrorists were attempting to blow up the fence and were secretly gearing up for the invasion.

The quotes were published in the Israeli media without mentioning a source or saying who the documents were intended for.

One section of the document cited, “the renewal of understandings between Israel and Hamas on security quiet [between Gaza and Israel] in return for concessions will enable the preservation of public order for a protracted period. Hamas is maintaining [Yahya] Sinwar’s strategy — advancing the organization’s goals without getting involved in a round of fighting.”

A second quoted section said, “The latest episode of friction [at the fence] ended in what Hamas considers to be a positive fashion because it attained economic achievements without being dragged into a military confrontation. We should seek a framework that will include significant dividends for the Strip in order to preserve the quiet.”

Although Shin Bet said the quotes were accurate, they did not indicate efforts towards a deal to secure the release of four Israeli hostages before October 7th.

Shin Bet was critical that the previous passages were quoted without a section that issued a clear caveat that “high alert must be maintained for a round of fighting amid an emergency on the [Gaza] front.’”

The security agency said it would respond to the report by presenting documents showing all the “warnings and recommendations it conveyed to the political echelon to a state commission of inquiry” and will be presented “in full, rather than excerpts from documents.”