Newly uncovered Hamas documents found in Gaza reveal a devastating miscalculation by Israeli leadership: the terror group saw the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls not as a setback, but as a resounding victory — a misreading that emboldened Hamas to launch the brutal October 7 attacks more than two years later, according to a Channel 12 report.

At the time, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu heralded the 11-day operation as an “extraordinary success,” vowing that Hamas had been severely weakened and that Israel’s deterrence had been restored. But internal letters exchanged between Hamas’s then-Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and the group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh tell a different story — one of the terror group’s triumph, long-term deception, and preparation for a far deadlier assault.

The letters show that following the conflict, Sinwar advocated for a strategy of proposing a so-called “hudna,” or long-term ceasefire, not as a path to peace, but as a calculated ploy to isolate Israel internationally and sow division within its own society.

“It is likely that this move, which would be acceptable to most countries in the world, would not be acceptable to the occupation [Israel] and would therefore increase their isolation and disconnection from them,” Sinwar wrote. “If the occupation decides to go in this direction, it would tear it apart from within and lead to internal division and civil war.”

Haniyeh, in response, congratulated Sinwar on what he called a “clear victory,” celebrating the global acclaim for Hamas’s military wing and its then-chief of staff, Muhammad Deif, who has since been killed by Israel. “Millions cheer to the dear chief of staff of the resistance… who won a divine and glorious victory,” Haniyeh wrote.

The correspondence reveals that while Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets and mortars at Israel in May 2021 — killing a dozen civilians and one soldier — it saw its ability to withstand Israel’s military response and maintain its tunnel networks as proof of its growing strength. Despite Israel’s claims at the time that it had crippled Hamas’s underground “metro” system, senior Hamas officials later told Hezbollah and Iranian leaders in Beirut that the damage was superficial and quickly repairable.

“‘The ‘metro’ was not damaged at all, and only the offensive tunnel network was slightly damaged and will be repaired soon,” Hamas officials reportedly assured Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani during a July 2021 meeting.

The revelations come as a painful reminder that from the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls until October 7, Hamas meticulously conducted a campaign of deception, leading Israeli intelligence to believe it was not preparing for a major war.

The tragic result was laid bare on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed across the Gaza border, massacring around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.

Both Sinwar and Haniyeh, central architects of the deception, have since been killed by Israeli forces. But the newly revealed documents serve as a stark warning: Hamas doesn’t want peace with Israel — at best, it is only waiting for the deadliest moment to strike.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)