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Secret Documents Reveal Iran, Hezbollah Knew of Oct. 7 Plan
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah meets with top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on July 5, 2024, Lebanon. Photo: Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via REUTERS
JNS.org – Hamas pleaded with Iran to join its Oct. 7, 2023 attack months in advance, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza back in January.
According to the report, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, informed senior Iranian commander Mohammed Said Izadi of the plot in July 2023, in Lebanon.
Although the Iranians denied any involvement in the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas leadership meetings, obtained in transcribed form and verified by the Times, reveal that al-Hayya asked Izadi to strike sensitive sites in Israel in “the first hour” of the attack.
The documents further reveal that Hamas also intended to convene with Hezbollah’s late leader Hassan Nasrallah, but that the meeting was postponed. It was not clear whether a later meeting was held in person.
According to the recordings, Izadi said that Iran and Hezbollah sanctioned the attack in principle, but that more time was needed “to prepare the environment.”
Hamas was encouraged that its allies would not leave it “exposed,” but concluded that it might launch the attack on its own, the Times reported.
Three factors propelled Hamas’s decision to act alone, based on the recordings:
• Concern over Israel’s development of a new laser defense system.
• Israel’s election of a right-wing government with growing Israeli presence on the Temple Mount, which “can’t make us be patient.”
• The expanding divisions within Israeli society over issues such as the government’s judicial reform push.
• The desire to quash normalization talks between Jerusalem and Riyadh.
The documents moreover showed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar held secret meetings with a small syndicate of the terror group’s political and military seniors for a period of more than two years. They named the plot “the big project” and deliberately schemed to deceive Israel, conveying the impression that Gaza was focused on “life and economic growth.” The Hamas leaders further stated that they “must keep the enemy convinced that Hamas in Gaza wants calm.”
The Hamas leadership expressed its relief that several instances of rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions had not developed into confrontations.
Sinwar conveyed his hope that the attack, alongside a broader regional war, would bring about Israel’s “collapse.”
The Times also reported that Hamas initially planned to execute the attack in the fall of 2022, but was delayed, perhaps due to efforts to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to join in.
According to the Times, the recordings were discovered on a computer found by Israeli troops in an underground Hamas command center in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
On Oct. 7, thousands of Hamas terrorists, as well as Gazan civilians, invaded Israeli communities in the western Negev, massacring 1,200 individuals, wounding thousands and kidnapping 251 more into the Palestinian enclave. The attack instigated a war that has expanded into multiple fronts, with Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, Iraqi paramilitary groups and Iran directly attacking the Jewish state.
The post Secret Documents Reveal Iran, Hezbollah Knew of Oct. 7 Plan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.