Israel Stopped Eavesdropping on Hamas a Year Ago, The New York Times

Israeli intelligence agencies halted eavesdropping on communications of the Palestinian Hamas militant movement about a year ago, considering it "useless." This is reported by The New York Times, citing its sources. The report is conveyed by TASS.

According to the publication, the Israeli General Security Service could have anticipated the Palestinian militants' attack on Israel if they had not ceased to monitor Hamas militants' radio communications a year ago, a decision which they deemed as a "waste of resources."

"Since such data was not received, by 3 AM on October 7, the intelligence services were unable to clearly explain the unusual activity of militants in the Gaza Strip, which they perceived as regular military exercises," the sources noted.

Following that, the newspaper reports, intelligence services developed a hypothesis that Hamas might attempt a small-scale attack on Israel, prompting authorities to deploy anti-terrorism units along Israel's southern border. However, until the onset of the attack, no one believed the situation could escalate that far.

Israeli military officials told the newspaper that thus, "the country with the most powerful military capability in the Middle East not only underestimated the scale of the attack but also failed to collect intelligence data due to pride and a false assumption that Hamas could be deterred."