Iranian officials helped Hamas plan attack on Israel: Report

TEL AVIV: Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the deadly attack on Israel in which the death toll has risen to thousands the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to senior members of terrorist groups Hamaz and Hezbollah, Iran gave approval for the assault at a meeting held in Beirut last Monday, according to the WSJ report that was cited by the Israel Foreign Ministry statement on X app.

According to them, officers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions, marking the most significant breach of Israel's borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Details regarding the operation were refined during several meetings that were held in Beirut. IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah attended these meetings, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The attack was planned to coincide with Israel's internal political turmoil surrounding Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

In addition, the attack was planned to disrupt the rapidly progressing US-brokered negotiations aimed at normalizing ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a development considered as a threat by Iran, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, Wall Street Journal reported.

A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government gave the same account of Israel's involvement in the lead-up to the attack on Israel, the US daily reported. On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Hamas has grown stronger with Iran's support in recent years.

However, he also mentioned that there is no direct evidence of Iran's involvement in the specific Hamas attack on Israel, ABC News reported.

In an interview with ABC News, Blinken said, "There's a long relationship between Iran and Hamas. In fact, Hamas wouldn't be Hamas without the support that it's gotten over many years from Iran. We haven't yet seen direct evidence that Iran was behind this particular attack is involved, but the - the support over many years is clear."

Blinken added, "It's one of the reasons that over the last couple of years, we have been resolutely working against Iran's support for terrorism, for destabilizing actions in other countries. We've sanctioned more than 400 Iranian individuals and entities precisely for the kind of support that they've offered Hamas in the past. And it's something that we remain extremely vigilant about"

In the statement shared on X, Israel Foreign Ministry said, "According to the Wall Street Journal Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas's Saturday surprise attack on Israel Iran gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.

Officers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions--the most significant breach of Israel's borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War--those people said."

It further said, "Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said. In a major escalation on October 7, Hamas launched a "surprise attack" on Israel, firing a barrage of rockets into the southern and central parts of the country.

According to Israeli local media cited by The Times of Israel, more than 700 Israelis have died since Saturday's attack. According to Israeli government, over 2000 people have been injured in the attack. In another post, the Israel Foreign Ministry said, "A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however, gave the same account of Iran's involvement in the lead-up to the attack as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members. Asked about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the group planned the attacks on its own."

It added, "This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision," he said. The IRGC's broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle Israel from all sides--Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official. At least 700 Israelis are confirmed dead, and Saturday's assault has punctured the country's aura of invincibility and left Israelis questioning how their vaunted security forces could let this happen."

Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to turn all known hideouts of the terrorist outfit into "rubble". He warned all Gaza residents to leave, adding that the country would immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas's capabilities. Netanyahu said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are going community by community, house by house, and are "restoring control by clearing the terrorists out of the last communities".

Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, Netanyahu posted, "The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas's capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens. As Bialik wrote: 'Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan'."

"All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere," he added.