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Hamas Was Preparing New Terror Attacks Before Israel Struck
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – At 2.20 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, the Israeli Air Force restarted large-scale action against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Included in the first batch of some 80 targets, struck in just minutes, were senior- and medium-ranking members of Hamas’s political regime and key military infrastructure sites.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the renewal of military action, while the Israeli government and security establishment coordinated the decision to resume operations against the terrorist regime in Gaza.
The decision followed Hamas’s repeated refusal to release hostages despite multiple mediation efforts, particularly those led by US envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Netanyahu. The renewed strikes mark a decisive shift in Israel’s approach, signaling both military escalation and political determination to achieve its war objectives.
However, JNS has learned, the renewal of Israeli military operations was driven not only by Hamas’s refusal to release hostages but also by clear intelligence indicating that the terrorist organization had used the ceasefire period to strengthen its military capabilities. During the two-month truce, which began on January 19, Hamas worked to rebuild its forces, stockpile weapons, and prepare for future attacks.
The Israeli response targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, senior figures in its political wing, and key terrorist infrastructure. The strikes were part of a sustained military effort designed to degrade Hamas’s operational capabilities while applying pressure to release hostages.
The timing of the operation was also influenced by intelligence assessments that Hamas was preparing new attacks. The group had been observed reinforcing its military positions and laying explosives along expected IDF entry routes.
These activities suggested a concerted effort to prepare for a new, cross-border attack targeting Israeli communities, prompting the IDF to act preemptively. The military operation is expected to continue as long as necessary, with the scope potentially expanding based on battlefield and diplomatic developments.
Hamas’s repeated declarations about its intention to conduct further attacks reinforced the perception that it was merely using the ceasefire as a tactical pause to prepare more murderous attacks against Israel. Israeli intelligence had been closely monitoring Hamas’s activities and concluded that its leadership remained committed to its goal of carrying out new large-scale operations on Israeli territory.
Given this assessment, waiting any longer would have allowed Hamas to further entrench itself. While the current phase of the operation remains focused on airstrikes, Israeli officials have indicated that a military escalation remains a possibility. The IDF’s extensive aerial campaign was executed with overwhelming force.
A joint announcement by the IDF and Shin Bet intelligence agency (ISA) on Tuesday stated that they were “continuing to strike terror targets belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations across the Gaza Strip. The targets struck over the past few hours include terrorist cells, launch posts, weapons stockpiles, and additional military infrastructure used by these terror organizations to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.”
The strikes took Hamas by surprise. The scale and speed of the attack were designed to inflict maximum damage while minimizing Hamas’s ability to respond effectively.
According to a subsequent IDF-Shin Bet statement, the operation resulted in the elimination of senior Hamas officials, including:
- Essam al-Da’alis, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, and the most senior figure of authority in Gaza.
- Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu-Watfa, Hamas’s minister of internal affairs and the head of its internal security forces, which the IDF said were also used for terrorist missions.
- Bahajat Hassan Mohammed Abu-Sultan, the head of Hamas’s internal security forces who engaged in terrorism.
- Ahmed Amar Abdullah Alhata, Hamas’s minister of justice, whose role included the use of Hamas-controlled legal institutions for terror-related purposes.
The targeted killings of these figures significantly weakened Hamas’s internal organizational structure and disrupted its ability to maintain governance and military coordination.
Col. (res) Yaron Buskila, a former operations officer in the IDF Gaza Division, told journalists in a call organized by the Jerusalem Press Club on Tuesday: “There were actually three objectives for this attack. The first one, and I think the most important one, is to removing the immediate threat of a Hamas raid on the Israeli positions or again on the Israeli villages. And we know about the threats. In the last two months since the ceasefire, the Hamas tried to arm itself again and to prepare for the next round.”
He added: “We had a lot of alerts that the Hamas is preparing to raid. It can be civilians who are working in the field next to the border, or against the Israeli villages.”
The second objective, said Buskila, “is to push Hamas again to the negotiation table under the terms of the first round.”
Hamas is currently attempting to engineer negotiations in a manner that would allow it to remain as Gaza’s ruler and armed force and prepare a new Oct.-7-style mass assault on Israel, according to Buskila.
“We can never know when [Hamas will try to attack again]. And that’s one of the things that we cannot allow. We have to stay, leave our forces in the Philadelphi Corridor and go inside Gaza again to fight against Hamas, to make sure Hamas will not stay in Gaza anymore. Otherwise, they will just arm themselves again and prepare for the next raid.”
The third objective, Buskila said, is to remove threats to Israel such as explosive devices, rockets and anti-tank missiles that were planted by Hamas in Gazan homes, along roads which the IDF is expected to enter in a future ground operation.
Buskila stressed that “Israel is trying to exhaust as many ways as possible to free the hostages,” adding, however, that “it is clear to us that the Hamas will not release everyone without achieving its goal because they [the hostages] are only assets that they have in their hands.”
“So if you want to change the terms of the next negotiation, we have to get inside Gaza and to fight again, and to go back to the table with terms that are better for Israel.”
In a statement to the nation on Tuesday, Netanyahu said: “Hamas refused offer after offer to release our hostages. In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen. While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so. This is why I authorized yesterday the renewal of military action against Hamas.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz reinforced this message during a visit to the Tel Nof Airbase, southern Israel, declaring: “Hamas must understand that the rules of the game have changed. If it does not immediately release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open, and it will face the full force of the IDF—by air, sea, and land—until its total destruction.”
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the new IDF chief of staff, toured Rafah in the southern Gaza on Tuesday and reiterated the IDF’s commitment to securing southern Israel, telling troops: “Your mission is to protect the communities here. We are engaged in an ongoing operation against Hamas, alongside the IDF’s full obligation to bring back the hostages.”
At present, the operation remains an air campaign, but Israeli officials have made it clear that a ground incursion will follow if Hamas continues to refuse to change its position.
The post Hamas Was Preparing New Terror Attacks Before Israel Struck first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hezbollah Says Lebanon Move on Army Plan Is ‘Opportunity,’ Urges Israel to Commit to Ceasefire
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and members of the cabinet stand as they attend a cabinet session to discuss the army’s plan to disarm Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, September 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati told Reuters on Saturday that the group considered Friday’s cabinet session on an army plan to establish a state monopoly on arms “an opportunity to return to wisdom and reason, preventing the country from slipping into the unknown.”
Lebanon’s cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.
But it said continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon would hamper the army’s progress. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos stopped short of saying the cabinet had formally approved the plan.
Qmati told Reuters that Hezbollah had reached its assessment based on the government’s declaration on Friday that further implementation of a US roadmap on the matter was dependent on Israel’s commitment. He said that without Israel halting strikes and withdrawing its troops from southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s implementation of the plan should remain “suspended until further notice.”
Lebanon’s cabinet last month tasked the army with coming up with a plan that would establish a state monopoly on arms and approved a US roadmap aimed at disarming Hezbollah in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
Qmati said that Hezbollah “unequivocally rejected” those two decisions and expected the Lebanese government to draw up a national defense strategy.
Israel last week signaled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the army took action to disarm Hezbollah. Meanwhile, it has continued its strikes, killing four people on Wednesday.
A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken center stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group.
Lebanon is under pressure from the US, Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s domestic rivals to disarm the group. But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south.
Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem last month raised the specter of civil war, warning the government against trying to confront the group and saying street protests were possible.
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UK Police Arrest Dozens at Latest Protest for Banned Palestine Action
Demonstrators attend the “Lift The Ban” rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
British police arrested dozens more people on Saturday under anti-terrorism laws for demonstrating in support of Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned by the government as a terrorist organization.
Britain banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged military planes. The group accuses Britain’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Police have arrested hundreds of Palestine Action supporters in recent weeks under anti-terrorism legislation, including over 500 in just one day last month, many of them over the age of 60.
On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered near parliament in central London to protest against the ban on Saturday, with many holding up signs that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers had begun arresting those expressing support for Palestine Action. Police did not say how many arrests were made but a Reuters witness said dozens of people were detained.
Palestine Action’s ban, or proscription, puts the group alongside al-Qaeda and ISIS and makes it a crime to support or belong to the organization, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
“I can be unequivocal, if you show support for Palestine Action – an offense under the Terrorism Act – you will be arrested,” Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said on Friday. “We have the officer numbers, custody capacity and all other resources to process as many people as is required.”
Human rights groups have criticized Britain’s decision to ban the group as disproportionate and say it limits the freedom of expression of peaceful protesters.
The government has accused Palestine Action of causing millions of pounds worth of criminal damage and says the ban does not prevent other pro-Palestinian protests.
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Macron’s Meeting with American Jewry ‘Won’t Happen’ Amid Palestinian Recognition Drive, Surge in Antisemitism
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference in Paris, France, June 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
i24 News – French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to set up a meeting with American Jewish leaders later this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
i24NEWS has learned that the meeting won’t happen, firstly because Macron was only available for the meeting ahead of the UN General Assembly during Rosh Hashanah, and yet, a person invited to meet with Macron and who has knowledge of the discussions told i24NEWS the sit-down simply wasn’t going to happen, anyway.
“I think the organizations, for the most part, would not have participated,” the person said, adding that AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee would have likely received invitations, among other entities.
“The guy has a 15% popularity rating in France. It’s not our job to help him out,” the person said.
Asked by i24NEWS whether Macron’s push for greater Palestinian state recognition or his lack of action in tackling antisemitism at home led to the stance of organized American Jewry, the person said it’s more of “the climate” which allows one to say ‘Look, the American Jews met with me,’ regardless of the content.”
The person said they are sure, if a meeting would have happened, that everybody in the room would have taken a hard line with Macron, including his “statements on Israel, the failure to respond to antisemitism” and France’s announcement this summer that it will recognize a Palestinian state later this month, and is leading an effort to get more countries to do the same.
But, the person told i24NEWS they are convinced that, in the end, while no final decision actually had to be taken, there was enough pressure that a consensus would have been reached to decline the meeting.
Of the timing of Rosh Hashanah allowing for leadership to not be forced to officially say no to Macron, the person said “G-d saves us every time.”
Another source familiar with the matter noted that it cannot be ruled out that Macron may eventually succeed in arranging a meeting with certain representatives, as the organizations are not a single unified body. However, he is unlikely to be welcomed by the overwhelming majority of groups representing American Jewry.
i24NEWS has also learned that French President Emmanuel Macron explored the possibility of visiting Israel ahead of the convention, but was advised by the Prime Minister’s Office that the timing was inappropriate. The message came as Macron continues to push for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move Israel strongly opposes. Sources further told i24NEWS that Israel is weighing additional retaliatory measures against Macron, including the potential closure of the French consulate in Jerusalem, which primarily serves Palestinians in the West Bank.