Hamas threatens to carry out repeat of October 7 massacre in ‘unprecedented’ warning: report

Hamas has said it is prepared to carry out an attack similar to the October 7, 2023 massacre, according to Israeli news website Ynet.

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Senior Hamas officials delivered the message to UN humanitarian coordinator Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, whom they met at his office in Gaza last week, the publication reports.

The group said it would be prepared to carry out a violent attack in Israel, Judea, Samaria and abroad, and could strike wherever the opportunity arises.

They also told Alakbarov that Hamas is losing control over the Gaza Strip, due to continuing Israeli military operations, the shifting of the Yellow Line marking the border with Israel, and the cancellation of Palestinian elections scheduled for November by President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Alakbarov relayed the message Wednesday to Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy, Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), and a document detailing the Hamas leadership’s threats against Israel was urgently forwarded to the country’s political and security leadership.

Ynet reports that Hamas made clear that they were unwilling to accept the continuation of this situation, with Israeli officials said to have described the threat as “unprecedented” in its bluntness and directness.

It says the warning has intensified concerns within Israel’s security establishment that Hamas is preparing for another confrontation, with assessments recently presented to the security cabinet suggesting that Hamas has stepped up preparations for renewed fighting, accumulating weapons and personnel and transferring military equipment into civilian areas.

Israeli officials believe that Hamas expects Israel’s ability to undertake military operations to be constrained by the upcoming Israeli election and U.S. midterms, allowing the group to strengthen its position.

However, Ynet also reports that Hamas is no longer believed to be capable of launching an assault on the scale of the October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

It also says that Hamas is facing a financial crisis and needs approximately 90 million shekels (US$29 million) a month simply to continue paying its operatives.

The publication refers to Israeli security estimates that put the number of Hamas personnel across the Gaza Strip at approximately 30,000, each of whom receives around 3,000 shekels ($970) a month.

Meanwhile, the Board of Peace, founded by U.S. President Donald Trump, called for Hamas to disarm under the July 30 Gaza Roadmap, which is a framework for implementing the U.S.-brokered plan to end the conflict.

Hamas agreed to disarm on July 31, but said it would not implement any part of the deal unless Israeli forces fulfilled their own obligations to withdraw from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the 15-point plan in August, telling a cabinet meeting, “The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed.”

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