'We Knew Something Was Wrong': The Chilling Warning Signs Hours Before Oct 7 Attack
In a devastating new report, military sources expose how crucial warnings about Hamas's drone activities were detected but ignored on the night of terror: The revelations show how intelligence about suicide drones and unusual aerial movements hit bureaucratic walls just hours before disaster struck.
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New details have emerged about critical intelligence gathered but not acted upon in the hours leading up to Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, according to a Wednesday report from Israel Hayom.
The Israeli Air Force detected suspicious activity in Hamas's aerial operations during the night of October 7, specifically related to the terror group's drone capabilities, including suicide UAVs. Despite forwarding this intelligence to both the Air Force's control center and Military Intelligence, the information failed to trigger appropriate action.
The report reveals that Hamas, while lacking a sophisticated air force, had managed to accumulate several dozen small unmanned aircraft before the attack, with some units smuggled from Iran. These drones served dual purposes: most were used for surveillance and intelligence gathering ahead of the invasion, but dozens were actually suicide drones capable of executing ground attacks – which were indeed deployed during the October 7 assault.
A source familiar with the events described a troubling breakdown in inter-agency communication during those critical hours. While the Air Force's aerial intelligence unit shared their findings about unusual activities, Military Intelligence and Shin Bet (Israel's internal security service) failed to reciprocate with their own crucial intelligence – namely, the detection of activated SIM cards among Hamas's elite Nukhba forces.
"We didn't keep any piece of intelligence to ourselves," an Air Force source stated. "The same can't be said about the other bodies."
The intelligence failures continued into the early morning hours. Following a pre-dawn situation assessment by the IDF Chief of Staff, the Air Force received orders to reinforce the Gaza sector with an additional attack drone and to relocate two Apache helicopters from the northern Ramat David base to the south. Critically, while the attack drone was ordered to deploy immediately, the Apache helicopters were instructed to arrive at 8 AM – by which time the attack was already underway.
The emerging details add to the mounting evidence of missed warnings and communication failures between Israel's security agencies in the hours before the deadliest attack in the country's history.