A senior official in the military wing of Hamas claims that on the eve of the October 7 massacre, double agents were activated to pass false information to Israel's Shin Bet security service with the aim of creating a false impression of security routine in the Gaza Strip. According to this official, this information influenced Israeli intelligence assessment and enabled the concealment of preparations for the attack. The details were published Sunday in a report by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
According to the official, Hamas' security apparatus successfully exposed a large spy network operating on behalf of Israel in 2017. Some of the exposed agents, it is claimed, were turned into double agents reactivated by the al-Qassam Brigades – Hamas' military wing – to gather information about the Shin Bet's operational methods, the identities of agents it operates, and their equipment.
According to statements by Mahmoud Mardawi and Jasser Barghouti – senior Hamas officials – in an interview published in February 2025, one of the central measures taken was the arrest of 45 Palestinians identified by Hamas as Israeli agents, following the assassination of Mazen Fuqaha in 2017. Mardawi claimed that these arrests "paralyzed the enemy's ability to obtain intelligence" and made it difficult for Israel to receive relevant warnings ahead of the attack.
Jasser Barghouti claimed that following the extensive arrest of the agent network, Hamas managed to understand the operational patterns of Israeli intelligence, and thus double agents were activated who conveyed directed or false information to Israel. According to him, these agents skewed intelligence assessment and were part of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" plan.
According to official Hamas publications, the attempt to mislead Israeli intelligence existed even earlier. For example, a documentary broadcast on Al-Mayadeen channel in December 2019 presented "Operation Illusions" carried out between 2016 and 2018. According to Hamas' version, an agent with access to the rocket unit of the al-Qassam Brigades was operated by the Shin Bet to locate and destroy rockets and launch sites – but was actually operated by Hamas itself.
According to that documentation, the agent deliberately misled Israeli intelligence, exposed the names of his handlers from the Shin Bet, and also managed to receive intelligence equipment from them during his activities. A recorded conversation with the Israeli handler was presented in the film as proof that he was a double agent who knew how to deceive his handlers.
According to Hamas, the purpose of publishing the film was "to surprise the enemy" and to demonstrate that the organization is capable of thwarting intelligence moves in the future as well.
