While the conflict in Gaza raged on, Israeli forces apprehended a man believed to be working with the Shin Bet, only to discover he had been betraying them from within. Under questioning, the man admitted that he was, in fact, a double agent.
During his interrogation, the operative confessed that his primary task had been to mislead Israel’s security officials and lull them into complacency ahead of the devastating October 7, 2023, Hamas assault.
Channel 12 News aired a report Tuesday evening disclosing that this agent deliberately misinformed his handlers just hours before the attack commenced.
“There is no preparation for an offense by Hamas,” he told his Shin Bet contacts at the time, despite numerous warnings and red flags mounting in the lead-up to the massacre.
At the time, his comments—coming from someone believed to be a credible source—persuaded senior officials that no major operation by Hamas was imminent. The misleading message, later referred to as a “weakening signal,” triggered a downgrade in alertness, and no further intelligence discussions were held with other sources that night.
Looking back, Israeli defense leaders now believe that this single exchange had an outsized impact in undermining their situational awareness and contributed to the failure to grasp the scale of the threat in the critical hours before the assault began.
{Matzav.com Israel}