Documents found in Gaza detail Iranian sponsorship ahead of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack

Iran was an essential part of Hamas preparations for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to a report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on Sunday, based on documents found by the IDF in Gaza over the last year. Though Iran has denied foreknowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, the documents cited by the Meir Amit Center report indicate Tehrans involvement in Hamas preparations. Hamas documents taken by IDF forces in the ground operation in the Gaza Strip ... provide a rare glance at the extent of Irans penetration into Hamas as part of building its axis of resistance against Israel, the report states. The documents teach us about Irans strategic process of establishing their foothold and influence in what happens in Hamas specifically and Gaza generally. On December 18, 2022, a letter from Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas Qassam Brigades who was killed in March of this year, wrote to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — also killed by the IDF this year — that Iran agreed to provide a special budget of $7 million per month for a year to prepare for a war with Israel, but Issa thought Hamas should ask for a three- or four-month advance so that the group could prepare faster. The letter also states that the sides discussed ways of smuggling weapons from Yemen to Hamas through a network of smugglers that he totally trusts, as well as using an Iranian submarine, according to the Meir Amit Center report. In May 2022, former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who is still a senior figure in the terrorist group, wrote to Issa about an Iran-Hamas joint project to prepare to infiltrate Israel. Hamas would establish bases in Lebanon, starting with 2,000 terrorists meant to act under the command of Hezbollahs elite Radwan force. There are two main missions, the letter reads. If there is a joint battle and the Radwan force seeks to attack, Hamas will be on the forefront. If there are circumstances similar to [the 11-day Israel-Hamas war in May 2021], there will be independent infiltration actions, meaning groups from Al-Qassam [Hamas] will infiltrate." Mashal referred to disputes between Hamas, Hezbollah and IRGC about the chain of command when the groups work in coordination, and wrote that while Hamas wants to keep a good atmosphere and not fight with the other groups, it is our right to keep a high level of secrecy from Hezbollah. Iran also trained Hamas terrorists to use drones in the years preceding the Oct. 7 attack. The terrorists were smuggled to Iran via Turkey for advanced training in 2019, according to another document. This mission came with secret instructions from the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps to develop the ability of the elite members of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the Gaza strip, one document read. This course is in the framework of secret coordination between Hamas and the IRGS for use in special terror missions against the Israeli army. Multiple documents indicated that Iran had specific instructions for how the money it sent to Hamas was to be used, though Issa wrote a letter in 2021 complaining about money that disappeared in transit. In the Meir Amit Centers evaluation, Hamas leadership probably kept some of the Iranian money for its own pockets or purposes. Iran used its financial leverage on Hamas to influence its decision-making. Former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh wrote to Sinwar in 2022 to inform him that Iran will reinstate its funding to Hamas, after the latter agreed to reestablish relations with Syrian President Bashar Assads regime. Hamas had previously supported Syrian rebels against Assad. Iran supported several smaller terrorist groups in Gaza, which operated under the command of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. But the Islamic Republic was also willing to work with secular Palestinian terrorists such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which sent representatives to meet with the Iranian ambassador in Syria in 2023 to discuss cooperation on the Palestinian nations resistance in the West Bank and strengthening the axis of resistance. Iran also sought to influence Gazan civilians, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims, in a process the report called "Shi'ization." Iran-sponsored activities included celebrations of Quds Day , a holiday invented by the mullahs regime centered on incitement against Israel. The regime held contests for media projects to strengthen the stability" of Iran's proxies. Iran paid about $120,000 per month to support Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad radio stations, sponsored scholarships named for terrorists and provided students with free school supplies, along with information about the IRGC's Quds force and other elements of Tehran's axis of resistance. The Meir Amit Center is a non-governmental organization that works closely with the Israeli intelligence community, publishing reports on intelligence and terrorism, often based on primary sources and written by current and former officers from Israeli intelligence agencies.

Russia pounded Ukraine on Sunday with a massive attack that killed 11 civilians across several regions and damaaged the country's already fragile energy grid, as the world prepared to mark 1,000 days since Moscow's invasion. Nationwide emergency power restrictions would be implemented Monday ahead of a much-feared winter, the state grid operator announced.President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched 120 missiles and almost 100 drones, targeting Kyiv as well as southern, central and far-western corners of the country.  The attack, which officials said was one of Russia's largest, came as Moscow's assault neared its 1,000th day, which will be marked at the United Nations on Monday. Civilians were killed in the Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions. Rescuers scrambled to respond, with firefighters in the Odesa region hosing down heavily damaged buildings, showing a baby crib damaged in a residential house. The devastation comes at a time when Moscow has been steadily advancing in Ukraine's east and with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House, raising fears over the future of US support for Kyiv.Many fear a third winter of war will be the toughest yet, with Ukraine's energy infrastructure already damaged by intense Russian attacks. "Tomorrow, November 18, all regions will be forced to apply consumption restriction measures," grid operator Ukrenergo posted on social media. "The reason for the temporary return of restrictions is the damage to power facilities during today's massive missile and drone attack." Russia has already destroyed half of Ukraine's energy production capacity, Zelensky has warned.  The giant attack Sunday came two days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in almost two years, urging the Kremlin chief to end Moscow's devastating offensive.- 'True response' -Kyiv had slammed Scholz for reaching out to Putin, and said Sunday that the attack was the Kremlin's real answer."This is war criminal Putin's true response to all those who called and visited him recently," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said after the attack. "We need peace through strength, not appeasement." Scholz on Sunday defended the call and insisted that Berlin's backing for Kyiv was unwavering."Ukraine can count on us," he said before flying to a G20 meeting in Brazil, promising that "no decision will be taken behind Ukraine's back" on ending the conflict. But Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined the backlash on Sunday."No one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine," Tusk wrote on X. The barrage came as the UN Security Council is due to mark 1,000 days of Moscow's February 2022 invasion, with Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Sybiga travelling to New York for an event on Monday. - Civilian deaths across Ukraine -AFP journalists heard explosions in the early morning in Kyiv and close to Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. Moscow, meanwhile, said it had hit all its targets, claiming it had targeted an "essential energy infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex".But civilian deaths were reported across the country. Officials in Kherson reported the deaths of four people.  In the southern Mykolaiv region, local leader Vitaliy Kim said two women were killed in a night attack and seven people - including two children - were wounded.  The death toll included two employees of the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia in the city of Nikopol, who were killed when a depot was hit, the Dnipropetrovsk region's governor Sergiy Lysak and the operator said. Three others were wounded in the bombing.Two people were also killed in the Odesa region, where a teenager was wounded. Russian drones also made their way to Zakarpattia, a mountainous region rarely targeted, with officials saying fragments fell in the village of Pavshyno, near the border with Hungary and Slovakia. The head of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytsky, said a 66-year-old woman was killed in her car in Sheptytsky, a village around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Polish border.  That prompted NATO-member Poland to scramble fighter jets and mobilise all available forces on Sunday in response.Warsaw puts its armed forces on alert whenever attacks against its neighbouring country are deemed likely to create a danger for its own territory. Russia said Ukrainian drones attacks had killed a man in its border Belgorod region and a woman - named as local journalist Yulia Kuznetsova - in the border Kursk region.  Kursk leader Alexei Smirnov said she had been reporting on the "situation in the region", where a Ukrainian incursion has displaced thousands. The West and Ukraine says thousands of North Korea soldiers are in Russia, with some in the Kursk region, to reinforce Moscow's forces.  bur-oc/js

STORY: Under the piles of rubble littering southern Gaza are old clothes and shoes that have become a lifeline for Palestinians struggling to survive in the enclave's ruined economy. In the wrecked city of Khan Younis, Moein Abu Odeh is hunting for anything that could be sold for cash, more than a year since Israel started its relentless bombardments.The father-of-four says he hopes to buy flour with the money."If food and drink were available, believe me, I would give these clothes to charity," he says. "But the struggles we are going through mean we have to sell our clothes to eat and drink."Widespread shortages and more than a year of war have generated a trade in old clothing.Much of it is salvaged from the ruins of the homes of people who have died in the conflict.At this makeshift market, Louay Abdel Rahman is a seller who was displaced from northern Gaza.He arrived in the south with his family, with only their clothes on their backs."We are approaching winter and people need winter clothing to protect them from the cold. So I was compelled to set up a simple stall to sell used clothing. The border crossings are closed so no clothes are coming in."He says he buys his wares from a man whose house was destroyed."People who come to buy clothes are living in a very tough time, and those who come to us to sell them, they are also going through a tough time."Israel's military campaign since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack has devastated Gaza.It has left an estimated 42 million tons of debris piled where houses, mosques, schools and shops used to stand.In April, the United Nations estimated it would take 14 years to dispose of the wreckage. The U.N. official overseeing the problem said early October the clean-up - at that point - would cost at least $1.2 billion.