Israel officials say Hamas planned ‘9/11-style’ attack, larger than October 7

Hamas planned a full-scale invasion of Israel on a much larger scale than the October 7 terror attacks, according to Israeli security officials.

A chilling 36-page document produced by the terror group reveals detailed plans to strike Israel by land, sea and air, and bomb three of Israel’s tallest skyscrapers in a 9/11-style attack that would “create an unprecedented crisis for the enemy, similar to the World Trade Center crisis in New York”.

The blueprint details how Hamas intended to mobilise the Palestinian population to attack Israel to bring “victory, beating fear into the hearts of our enemies”.

The file was discovered by the Israeli army in the computer hard drive of a Hamas leader during a raid on the Bader base near Gaza City last November – a month after the terror attacks.

Israeli security officials said it was likely written in September 2022, a year before the October 7 attack, which left nearly 1200 victims dead.

They said they believed it was a genuine Hamas document.

The Arabic paper calls Hamas fighters the “leaders of the (Muslim) Nation, and the raisers of the banner of Islam”, telling them to “liberate Jerusalem” and “disgrace the children of Israel”.

The document – titled the “Appropriate Strategy for Building a Plan to Liberate Palestine” – says an attack by land, sea and air must begin at Israel’s northern front, bordering Lebanon.

Security experts believe that this means Hamas was planning to involve Hezbollah in its invasion as its fighters controlled the Lebanese border at the time.

The invasion plan starts with terrorists entering Israel at the northern front but penetrating only 12 miles into Israeli territory to deceive the IDF into thinking it is just a single attack.

Then, as the IDF focuses on the Lebanese border to the north, the whole of Israel would be stormed with a barrage of Hamas rockets from the Gaza Strip, as well as the West Bank and Lebanon.

The plan then outlines how terrorist cells inside Israel would detonate bombs in the car parks of three of the tallest skyscrapers in Tel Aviv, known as the Azrieli Centre.

The towers – with 48, 46, and 42 floors – have a shopping mall on the lower floors, below which are underground car parks.

The paper says the cells would “boobytrap the cars with a quantity of explosives that could blow up the towers”.

It adds that the bombs would also collapse the headquarters of Israel’s defence ministry next to them.

The paper says: “If these towers were to be destroyed in any way, it would create an unprecedented crisis for the enemy, similar to the World Trade Centre crisis in New York.” The document adds that 9/11-style scenes in the middle of Israel would produce “images of victory”, which would encourage ordinary Palestinians to take up arms.

As Israel reeled from the collapse of the Azrieli Centre, Hamas fighters would then drive from the city of Sderot, near Gaza, to Jerusalem, to “liberate” the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and occupy the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

Last night, Israeli security officials said that some of the plans mirrored aspects of October 7 when ordinary Palestinians from Gaza were encouraged to file into Israel and commit some of the murders and rapes, and also help kidnap 251 hostages.

One security source said: “This kind of document shows October 7 wasn’t spontaneous, or a result of momentary madness. It was a calculated act, planned for years.”