A newly revealed prison document sheds light on how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah identified what they saw as Israel’s internal weakness ahead of the October 7 massacre.
Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said that two months before the attack, imprisoned terrorists—one from Hamas and one from Islamic Jihad—analyzed Israeli media reports and urged Sinwar to exploit the country’s domestic crisis for a military strike.
The document was dated August 14, shortly before an Israeli intelligence report warned of declining reserve duty turnout.
According to Dahoah-Halevi, Nasrallah voiced similar views in an August 14 speech, claiming that Israel’s military was at its weakest point ever, marked by low fighting spirit, lack of willingness to sacrifice, and eroded trust between political and military leaders.