A report published by Israeli Army Radio revealed documents that it said included intelligence information provided by Hezbollah to the Al-Qassam Brigades during the “Saif Al-Quds” battle in 2021, which contributed to thwarting an assassination attempt on a prominent military figure in the northern Gaza Strip, and preventing the implementation of an Israeli plan to uncover the Hamas movement’s tunnel network.
The report reviewed the path of coordination between Hamas and Hezbollah in the years preceding the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on October 7, 2023, and the party’s position on engaging in the battle, based on the desire and plans of the Qassam Brigades leadership.
According to the documents, the first test of the level of coordination between Hezbollah and Hamas took place during the “Saif al-Quds” battle, where a joint intelligence operations room was established in Beirut, in which Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard participated, and during which it provided intelligence information to the movement during the confrontation.
The radio quoted an internal document that it said was written by a Hamas military intelligence official abroad, which stated that the operations room was active from the second day of the battle until the day after its end.
The document added that participants in the operations room asked Hamas about the information it needed. It requested information related to military deployment, air intelligence activity, and the movement of warplanes.
The report indicated that Hezbollah contributed to thwarting the element of deception that accompanied the war in May 2021, which was an Israeli plan that aimed to target the Hamas movement’s tunnel network in the Gaza Strip through intense air strikes.
He explained that the Israeli plan was based on showing a willingness to carry out a ground operation inside the Gaza Strip, with the aim of pushing Hamas members to move within the tunnel network and its locations, thus allowing the establishment of a “target bank” in preparation for targeting it from the air.
Israeli Army Radio also reported that Hezbollah provided Hamas with other intelligence assistance that contributed to thwarting the assassination attempt on Hamas’ northern Gaza Strip brigade commander, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, who was later assassinated during the war on Gaza, after an intelligence focus was spotted over the Jabalia refugee camp area two hours before the operation was scheduled to be carried out.
