October 7 Hamas attack orders were passed down verbally to thousands scattered across Gaza

Jerusalem: The plan drawn up by a handful of Hamas leaders was unknown to men who would carry it out until the morning of the attacks on Israel on October 7, a media report said.

The first orders went out before 4 a.m. -- Anyone who had been attending the regular training sessions and was not planning to attend dawn prayers at their usual mosques must go to pray, The Guardian reported.

An hour later, as the sky began to lighten over Gaza and the congregations began to disperse, new instructions were issued. These too were straightforward and passed mainly by word of mouth -- Bring your weapons and any ammunition you have and assemble at specific landmarks, the report said.

But still no one was told what was about to happen. Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the most ambitious operation launched by the Hamas since the extremist organisation had taken control of Gaza in 2007, was still a secret, The Guardian reported.

The decision to pass instructions verbally to thousands of Hamas militants scattered among Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants was the latest in a series of measures designed to deceive one of the most potent surveillance systems in the world and keep any word of what might be about to happen from a network of spies, The Guardian reported.

The instructions spread across Gaza in a cascade, given first to the commanders of the “battalions” of a hundred or more, then to leaders of platoons of 20 or 30, who told the squad commanders at the head of a dozen, who passed the message on to the friends, neighbours and relatives who had joined them at the twice weekly drills held in dozens of locations in the enclave, The Guardian reported.

Only when the men had assembled was extra ammunition and more powerful weaponry distributed. Many had handled such arms over previous months and had returned them to Hamas’ arsenals after each lesson. Soon they were carrying hand-held and rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and explosives.

It was now 6 a.m. The sun was up and the final orders were issued. Now, these were written down.

The written orders explained to Hamas units a precise plan drawn up by two men believed by Israel to have been the main planners of the attack: Yahya Sinwar, the overall head of Hamas in the enclave, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military al-Qassam brigades and elite Nukhba squads, The Guardian reported.