The French publication Le Figaro published an investigation by its own correspondent in the Middle East, Georges Malbruno, about the events leading up to October 7 and how Hamas was preparing for an attack on Israel.
According to Le Figaro, Hamas began preparing for the attack back in 2021 when Yahya Sinouar, along with the commander of the Izzaddin al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of the terrorist organization Hamas), and Muhammad Deif made various attempts to deceive Israeli intelligence.
Among other strategies, they appointed new commanders to combat units, selecting individuals about whom Israeli intelligence had no information. Additionally, some Hamas militants underwent training in Lebanon.
Le Figaro published an excerpt from a conversation with a Gaza resident who claimed that two years ago, he heard from Sinaouar about an impending attack.
"In 2021, Yahya Sinouar told me that the next war with the Israelis would involve 5,000 fighters surrounding Majdal (Ashkelon). I asked him, 'Do you want the Israelis to erase Gaza and turn it into a parking lot so that the corrupt Palestinian Authority will return?'" – the publication quoted an interlocutor from Gaza.
The publication states that three months before the attack, Hamas informed a small Salafist group in the Gaza Strip about the impending attack on Israel and provided it with weapons.
Additionally, a month and a half before the attack, all commanders of the combat wing were instructed to "lay low" and avoid communication with each other.
A month before the attack, Sinouar contacted Hamas leadership abroad, resulting in Musa Abu Mazrouk coming to Gaza and meeting with him. It was known that this meeting was "tense." Sinouar was outraged that Hezbollah did not intend to fully participate in the war against Israel.
Le Figaro also alleges that Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was informed about the attack half an hour before it commenced by Hamas's representative in Lebanon, Salah Arari.
