Hamas leaders deliberately launched the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel with the specific aim of preventing a potential peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to minutes from a high-level meeting discovered by Israeli forces in Gaza tunnels.
The documents, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, reveal that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar told fellow leaders at an Oct. 2, 2023, political bureau meeting that their planned assault was necessary to prevent a diplomatic breakthrough that would marginalize Palestinians. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sinwar specifically stated, "There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly," warning it would "open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path."
The strategic gambit appears to have succeeded – but at enormous cost. The Hamas attack that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250 prompted a massive Israeli military response, effectively halting any normalization progress between Israel and Saudi Arabia. During a Tuesday visit to Riyadh, US President Donald Trump acknowledged this reality, telling Saudi leaders they could establish relations with Israel "in your own time," according to The Wall Street Journal.
For Hamas leaders, the prospect of Israel-Saudi normalization represented an existential threat to their goals of establishing a Palestinian state "between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea," as noted in the documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Sinwar explained in the meeting that their attack, which had been in planning stages for two years, was intended to "bring about a major move or a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause."
When contacted by The Wall Street Journal for comment on the documents, Hamas did not respond regarding their authenticity. However, Arab intelligence officials familiar with Hamas communications told the newspaper the minutes appear genuine, as do other documents Israeli forces have recovered from Gaza tunnels during their military operations.
These newly discovered records provide additional context to the events leading up to the Oct. 7 attack, which became the deadliest day for Israelis since the nation's founding. The Wall Street Journal previously reported, citing senior Hamas and Hezbollah members, that another meeting occurred that same day in Beirut involving Hamas representatives and Iranian security officials, where Iran allegedly approved the planned assault.
This account has been disputed by other Hamas and Hezbollah officials, who maintain that attack specifics were tightly controlled by Hamas military leaders in Gaza. Nevertheless, intelligence officials from several countries have confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that Iran provided Hamas with weapons, funding, and training over an extended period, including combat preparation in the weeks immediately preceding Oct. 7.
According to The Wall Street Journal, both Tehran and Hezbollah had made it clear to Hamas they wanted to avoid direct, full-scale war with Israel, based on statements from both axis officials and Israeli intelligence sources. Many key figures involved in planning the attack are now dead, including Yahya Sinwar himself, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2023, along with most of Hamas' top Gaza leadership. According to Saudi reports that emerged Sunday, Yahya's brother Mohammed, who had replaced him as Hamas' leader in Gaza, was also eliminated in a recent strike.
Additional internal Hamas documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show growing concern about Saudi-Israeli diplomacy. A September 2023 Hamas report recommended escalating conflicts in the West Bank and Jerusalem specifically to complicate normalization efforts, while expressing skepticism about Saudi commitments to Palestinian interests, calling them "weak and limited steps to neutralize" Hamas.
A confidential August 2022 military leadership briefing marked "secret" concluded: "It has become the duty of the movement to reposition itself to... preserve the survival of the Palestinian cause in the face of the broad wave of normalization by Arab countries, which aims primarily to liquidate the Palestinian cause," as quoted by The Wall Street Journal. The document indicated Hamas was strengthening coordination with Hezbollah and other Palestinian factions in response.
The potential Saudi-Israeli normalization would have represented the most significant shift in Israel's regional standing since its peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt decades ago, following the 2020 Abraham Accords that established diplomatic relations between Israel and both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The Wall Street Journal notes that a deal with Saudi Arabia has long been considered the "true prize" for Israel and a strategic goal for Washington in building a regional coalition against Iran.
The war in Gaza has fundamentally altered Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's diplomatic calculations. The prince has reportedly told foreign visitors he cannot proceed with normalization unless Israel meets two conditions: ending the Gaza conflict and committing to a diplomatic process that could lead to Palestinian statehood.
Meanwhile, Israeli public opinion has hardened against Palestinian statehood following the Oct. 7 attack, making such a compromise increasingly difficult. The Wall Street Journal reports that Israeli forces also discovered a Hamas job advertisement from October 2022 seeking someone to lead diplomatic efforts against normalization, including recruiting grassroots organizations across the Arab world to boycott entities supporting normal relations with Israel.
