The night before the October 7 massacre, Israeli intelligence agencies detected the activation of hundreds of Israeli SIMs for mobile phones in the Gaza Strip by members of Hamas.
Such a "coincidence" is considered quite unusual, and a signal of Hamas' intentions to launch an attack, allowing terrorists to communicate on Israeli soil.
The Israeli SIMs started to gradually light up in a first tell-tale sign received by everyone in the intelligence service from the head of the Shin Bet to the Chief of Staff, reports journalist Nadav Eyal of Ynet, who added that the SIMs had been turned on in the past as well - without an attack taking place. According to Eyal, Hamas would do this from time to time as an exercise for its forces. Therefore, it was not an imminent sign of a terrorist attack about to take place.
In the middle of the night, an investigation was opened by the intelligence service to clarify the matter.
An IDF spokesman stated, "The claim that the Chief of Staff knew of a thousand SIMs that were activated (in Gaza) and did not let anyone know about this is false. The events of the night preceding October 7 will be thoroughly investigated and presented transparently to the public."