Testimonies from senior officers in the Israeli occupation army have revealed a broad four stage plan that had been prepared to surprise the resistance in the Gaza Strip through a sequence of attacks and assassinations culminating in a ground invasion.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, officers stated that the plan, which was fully ready, involved a sudden series of targeted assassinations against the late commander of Al Qassam Brigades, martyr Muhammad Deif, the movement’s leader in Gaza, martyr Yahya Sinwar, and two or three senior brigade commanders.
The subsequent phases included striking all known Hamas military build up sites identified by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence, followed by a gradual wave of air operations targeting the central command hubs of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The final phase involved deploying occupation army units to conduct a ground manoeuvre aimed at locating rocket launch points.
The newspaper reported that the units designated to launch the ground attack on Gaza were the 162nd, 36th, and 98th divisions. The plan had been proposed at various times, including a full year before the Al Aqsa Flood operation, as confirmed by testimonies from senior occupation officers.
Yedioth noted that the new testimonies align with a previous report the newspaper published months earlier, which detailed a plan centred on surprising the Gaza Strip with the assassination of Sinwar and Deif followed by an assault.
The testimonies indicate that the Southern Command had indeed formulated operational plans to target Sinwar and Deif, but execution faltered despite recommendations from prominent officers. This was due to the army’s focus on readiness for the northern front and the political leadership’s insistence on avoiding any initiative in Gaza during periods of calm.
