The IDF has released handwritten notes attributed to Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, revealing that the October 7 attacks on Israel were meticulously planned to inflict maximum terror and destruction. The documents, dated 2022, provide insight into the organization’s premeditated strategy and the deliberate targeting of Jewish civilians.
According to the notes, Hamas forces were instructed to carry out “intensive movements weeks before any action by the Red Side that the enemy regards as routine; this will serve as a cover story for the large movement.” In the document, “Red Side” is a code word used by Hamas to refer to Israeli forces or Israel itself. The instructions show that the raid was not spontaneous but carefully disguised to maintain the element of surprise.
The documents also detail an explicit strategy to use images of violence as a weapon of terror. Sinwar wrote, “Care must be taken to release images that will cause an outbreak of intoxication, frenzy and eruption among our people… At the same time, they should cause an outburst of terror and fear among the enemy.” The instructions included filming and broadcasting shootings, stabbings, trampling on soldiers’ heads, and other brutal acts, demonstrating a calculated effort to spread fear among Jewish civilians and soldiers.
Hamas also planned large-scale destruction. The notes call for operations designed to produce “horrific destruction, heart-rending scenes, terrible fire,” including the use of car bombs and setting entire neighborhoods or kibbutzim on fire. Sinwar’s instructions emphasized that these acts should be filmed and broadcast to “sow mortal fear,” showing that the terror was intended to extend beyond the immediate victims.
The notes provide precise military planning, outlining brigade objectives and deployment directions. The Northern Brigade’s focus was along the coastline, the Gaza Brigade toward the northeast, the Central Camps northeast to east, the Khan Younis Brigade toward the east, and the Rafah Brigade toward the southeast. The document stressed the importance of rapid mobilization and reinforcement, noting, “It is essential to be prepared for a flow of forces, development of the attack, its expansion and reinforcement to the maximum during the first six to ten hours in order to establish solid facts on the ground that will thwart any possibility of a counterattack.”
The IDF said the publication of these notes confirms that the attacks on October 7 were not acts of spontaneous violence but were planned in advance with the explicit goal of terrorizing Jewish civilians and communities. The documents offer chilling evidence of the calculated cruelty behind one of the deadliest attacks in recent Israeli history.
