A six-page memorandum dated August 24, 2022, recovered from an underground compound beneath the European hospital in Khan Younis, is presented in a New York Times investigation as a direct order from Yahya Sinwar outlining instructions for the October 7 attack.
Israeli forces found the document after killing Mohammed Sinwar in May 2025 and searching the subterranean site; a handwritten photograph of the memo was located on an offline computer. An Israeli handwriting expert compared the script to known samples attributed to Yahya Sinwar and found matches.
The memo allegedly instructs Hamas operatives to enter civilian neighborhoods and set them ablaze “with petrol or diesel from a tanker,” calling for “two or three operations where an entire neighborhood, a kibbutz, or something similar will be burned.” Israeli sources quoted by the NYT say the memo shows Sinwar intended to target civilians from the start, contradicting Hamas denials.
The report also cites intercepted battlefield communications collected by Unit 8200 during the attack. Audio shared with the NYT includes commanders repeating the memo’s incendiary orders. For example, at 09:52 on October 7 a Gaza brigade commander identified as Abu Muhammad told fighters: “Start burning houses. Burn, burn. I want the whole kibbutz to burn.” Another commander, Abu al-Abed, urged: “Set everything on fire.”