U.S. did not have specific intelligence to warn Israelis of a pending Hamas attack
The U.S. intelligence community did not know in advance that Hamas was planning a massive, coordinated attack against Israel on Oct. 7, despite streams of intelligence indicating that a general flareup in violence was possible, U.S. officials told McClatchy.
CIA assessments produced the week before Hamas’ assault only indicated that Hamas could be preparing to renew rocket fire from their base in the Gaza Strip into Israel — an escalatory but familiar event in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What transpired instead was a broad infiltration of Israel by over 1,000 Hamas militants who, over the course of two days, rampaged through Israeli towns and villages known as kibbutzim, murdering civilian men, women, children and seniors.
More than 1,300 Israelis died in the attack. Ever since, Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have killed over 1,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and Israeli defense forces are calling on 1.1 million Gazans to flee to the southern part of the strip ahead of a widely anticipated ground offensive.
A U.S. official confirmed to McClatchy the existence of the intelligence reports, which were first reported by The New York Times. A second senior administration official underscored to McClatchy that there were no specifics in the intelligence reports indicating an attack on Israel was imminent.
The CIA declined to comment on this report.
Visiting Israel on Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the United States did not have sufficient intelligence to warn Israel of a pending strike.
“If we had known or if we know of a pending attack against an ally, we would clearly inform that ally,” Austin said, speaking with reporters alongside Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv.
“What we’re focused on now,” he added, “is making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend its sovereign territory and to protect its citizens.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 4:21 PM.
