Israeli media focused their attention on accusations against the Shin Bet General Security Service of failing to recruit agents within the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and of failing to detect or thwart the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack early.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Shin Bet was investigating the reasons for not receiving any information about Hamas’ intention to carry out the October 7, 2023 attack from its agents in Gaza.
According to the channel, the Shin Bet investigation shows that a number of the agency’s agents in Gaza were deceiving Israel and not working with it.
Commenting on these developments, Guy Hein, a former Shin Bet official, said that the additional advantage of this device compared to other security services is the recruitment of sources, in reference to agents.
Guy expressed great regret at the time because there was not “even a single agent among about 3,000 members of the elite forces of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, on October 7, 2023.”
The Shin Bet was hoping that an agent would call from Gaza and inform the agency that an impending disaster would require the army to move to the border fence, according to Gay Hein.
According to the same channel, Israel is aware of the difficulty of infiltrating Hamas with agents given that it is a closed organization, noting that Hamas members carry out immediate executions against those suspected of collaborating with Israel.
In turn, Ilan Lotan, a former Shin Bet official, described the feeling of the agency’s employees on the morning of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack as a terrible feeling of failure, anger, and shame.
In the same context, Israeli Channel 12 journalist Omri Manev said that the Shin Bet thought it had agents in Gaza, “but in reality it did not have any agent capable of stopping this attack.”
The Palestinian resistance, led by the Al-Qassam Brigades, carried out a major operation on October 7, 2023, called “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which included a land, sea, and air attack and an infiltration of the resistance into the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, and killed hundreds of Israeli soldiers and officers.
The Qassams also captured at least 240 Israelis, more than 100 of whom were released during a temporary humanitarian truce in November 2023, while dozens of prisoners held in Gaza were killed due to Israeli raids that have been ongoing for more than a year.
More than 14 months after the attack, the Israeli security services and political institutions are still exchanging accusations about failure to confront the Al-Aqsa flood operation.
