The October 7 massacre was originally planned for the previous year but was delayed by the terror group who tried to enlist the help of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, according to secret documents seized by the Israel Defence Force in Gaza.

In minutes from a series of meetings held by Hamas leaders, reports said that the group planned the logistics of the deadly attack over a two-year period. Reports also cited correspondences between Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Iranian officials.

The New York Times cited the detailed minutes of 10 meetings from January 2022 until August 2023. The documents were allegedly discovered by the IDF on a computer in a Hamas control centre in Gaza’s Khan Younis in January.

The US publication said it had verified the authenticity of the documents and had obtained an internal report by the IDF which also confirmed the report’s veracity.

The documents showed that Sinwar held secret meetings with a small number of the terror group’s leaders over more than two years. They named the plot “the big project” and deliberately schemed to deceive Israel, conveying the impression that Gaza was focused on “life and economic growth”. The Hamas leaders further stated that they “must keep the enemy convinced that Hamas in Gaza wants calm”.

Sinwar conveyed his hope that the attack and a broader regional war would bring about Israel’s “collapse”.

According to the New York Times report, the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, informed senior Iranian commander Mohammed Said Izadi of the plot in July 2023, in Lebanon.

Although the Islamic Republic in Iran denied any involvement on October 7, the verified transcript of Hamas leadership meetings reveal that al-Hayya asked Izadi to strike sensitive sites in Israel in “the first hour” of the attack.

Izadi said that Iran and Hezbollah sanctioned the attack but needed more time “to prepare the environment”.

Hamas also intended to convene with Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, but the meeting was postponed, and it is not clear whether it was ever held in person.

The New York Times article said that the documents suggested that Hamas was encouraged that its allies would not leave the group “exposed”, but were pushed to consider launching the attack alone due to the evolving internal political dynamic in Israel and between the Jewish State and its allies.

They also implied that the group wanted to attack to put a stop to the normalisation talks between Jerusalem and Riyadh.

The report also says that the documents showed that Hamas was concerned over Israel’s development of a new laser defence system.

Hamas cited Israel’s election of a right-wing coalition government with a growing presence on Temple Mount, which “can’t make us be patient”, and the growing fractures within Israeli society over issues such as the government’s judicial reform push.