At around midnight before the October 7 massacre, Israeli intelligence officials identified that Hamas activated hundreds of SIM cards from Israeli mobile network operators, the military censor cleared for publication.
Members of Nukhba, the Hamas special forces unit, were provided with phones with Israeli SIMs or just SIM cards to replace Palestinian ones to support uninterrupted communication during the terrorists' mega-operation against Israel. Information about this has leaked to the media before, but it was officially confirmed only today. It remains unclear who in Israel knew about this activity on the eve of the attack.
In the first days after the start of the war, Israeli media reported that the inevitable beginning of hostilities was discussed at an operational meeting of Israeli security chiefs, which took place late at night on October 6. According to Channel 12, Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi and heads of the Israeli Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security agency were among the participants in the meeting. They discussed planned terrorist attacks, including the abduction of Israeli citizens and attempts by dozens of militants to break into any of the settlements located near the border of the Strip.
Shin Bet ordered the "Tequila" team — a group of elite counterterrorism forces — was alerted. However, the armed forces near the Gaza Strip were not alerted and continued to sleep. For many hours during the massacre, they didn't get reinforcements.
