Overview
- Reports published July 12–13, 2026 highlight handwritten documents dated August 24, 2022 that Israeli intelligence says were captured in Gaza and attributed to Yahya Sinwar.
- The notes map precise operational orders for October 7 including simultaneous breaches at three main entry points, force allocations across regions, and an overall target force of about 10,000 fighters.
- Sinwar’s writings give explicit hostage instructions to prioritize children and women, to seize men aged 17–50, and to confiscate mobile phones and documents from those seized.
- The documents include a passage stating Israel would use “the means and weapons at its disposal” and that “it is possible that it will even use a nuclear bomb,” a line cited by Israeli officials as evidence they anticipated extreme escalation.
- The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center first published related captured materials in October 2025 and analysts say the newly highlighted excerpts add to Israeli claims the October 7 assault was planned as a large-scale, provocative operation with grave consequences for civilians.