Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a debate at the Knesset on the inclusion of MK Gideon Sa’ar as a minister in the government, Sept. 30, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
After more than a year of speculation, it has come to light that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by Israel’s security agency (Shin Bet) about the October 7th attacks just ten minutes before they happened, Kan News reports.
Shin Bet informed the Prime Minister at 6:19 on Saturday morning for the first time that there was unusual activity by Hamas at the border.
Saturday morning, October 7th, 2023, was also the first time Shin Bet had told the Prime Minister about the activation of Israeli SIM cards in the Gaza Strip and that leaders of the terror group were hiding in underground bunkers, apparently preparing for an attack.
After a six-minute conversation, Netanyahu and Shin Bet agreed to have a situational assessment at 8:00.
The military secretary, General Avi Gil, then called the head of the chief of staff’s office. During their conversation, at 6:29, the missile barrage began.
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Although Netanyahu was not informed of the situation at the Gaza border until shortly before the attack occurred, there is some indication that the IDF and Shin Bet were aware of irregular activity at the border among Hamas terrorists sometime prior to October 7th.
According to Yedioth Aharonoth, the sudden mass activation of Israeli SIM cards by Gaza terrorists has been known for months but was suppressed by Israeli military censors.
Hundreds of Israeli SIM cards, used to provide cellular service via Israeli providers, were activated at around midnight between October 6th and 7th, multiple Israeli news outlets reported, just hours before the invasion of Israel that caught the IDF off guard and left some 1,200 Israelis dead and 253 in captivity.
The reports claim that IDF and Shin Bet intel officials detected approximately 1,000 Israeli SIM cards being activated at around midnight on October 7th.
They were left puzzled by the mass activation and, because SIM card activations had not been flagged in the past as indications of an impending attack, did not warn IDF Central Command of a possible invasion.
While some outlets, including Channel 14, said that roughly 1,000 SIM card activations were detected, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet internal security agency released a joint statement Monday downplaying the claims, calling them “false and far from reality. ” They said that ” only” several dozen SIM card activations had been detected.
