Hours before Hamas began its deadly Oct. 7 attack, dozens of Hamas terrorists activated Israeli SIM cards, which Israeli intelligence officials noticed, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF and Shin Bet security agency denied initial reporting that there were thousands of militants who activated Israeli SIM cards, which are believed to have allowed the terrorists to communicate better, but they acknowledged that “several indicative signs accumulated, which included, among other things, the activation of only dozens of SIMs, which were activated in previous events in the past,” according to the Times of Israel.
There had been previous instances in which Israeli intelligence noticed the activation of Israeli SIM cards in Gaza and no immediate attack ensued, so Israeli officials did not view this as a definitive sign of an imminent attack. There were low-level meetings among security officials in the early hours of Oct. 7, but they did not determine an attack was imminent.
“As previously published, on the night of October 7th, indicative signs were received for which situation assessments were conducted and operative decisions were made accordingly,” the IDF and Shin Bet said. “The indicative signs are based on a variety of tools and capabilities, including technological tools whose method of operation cannot be detailed.”
Last week, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, IDF chief of staff, announced a military investigation into the failures leading up to Oct. 7.
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The Israeli military had touted its security fence along the Israeli-Gaza border, which included cameras, watchtowers, and high-tech sensors, including subterranean ones, but on Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists were able to break through the fence with explosives and bulldozers allowing them to go through with cars and on motorcycles. Others sailed over the fence with hang gliders. Both occurred as they targeted the observation towers and cameras on the fence, and there was a simultaneous Hamas rocket barrage in southern Israel.
Israeli officials have said there would be a thorough investigation into the failures of Oct. 7, which led to the murders of approximately 1,200 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians. They also took approximately 250 hostages, roughly half of whom remain in Hamas custody hidden in the Gaza Strip.
