Israel’s domestic security service, Shin Bet, has taken responsibility for failing to heed warning signs of a planned Hamas attack before the militants’ devastating strike on October 7, 2023. The agency also faulted the Israeli government for policies that allowed Hamas to accumulate weapons, collect funds, and gain support.
A declassified summary of the report published Tuesday revealed that plans for a Hamas raid reached intelligence agents in 2018 and again in 2022, but the agency did not treat these warnings as a meaningful threat. As a result, the Shin Bet did not include these scenarios in future confrontations with Hamas.
The report highlighted lapses in communication between intelligence agencies and criticized the government’s reluctance to undertake “offensive” initiatives, including targeting Hamas leaders in Gaza. It also pointed to domestic unrest, including protests over Netanyahu’s planned overhaul of Israel’s judiciary, as a factor that emboldened the militants.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar acknowledged that the attack could have been prevented, but did not intend to resign until all hostages taken from Israel were repatriated. The report echoes findings made by The New York Times and highlights a series of failures by intelligence agents, including an assessment just days before the attack that definitively stated Hamas wanted to avoid a campaign against Israel.
Netanyahu’s office denied a request for comment on the Shin Bet’s findings, releasing an unofficial statement accusing the agency of presenting “an ‘investigation’ that answers no questions.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/world/middleeast/israel-oct-7-attack-shin-bet.html