This article was originally published as a post on X on February 3, 2025.
Ten days before the October 7, 2023, attack, Mustafa Al-Sawwaf, a journalist, columnist, and senior Hamas operative, sent a direct message to Israeli civilians living in communities bordering the Gaza Strip. His message urged them to leave their homes and prepare to depart from Palestine, as the “Promise of the End of Days” – the attack Hamas was planning – was approaching.
Al-Sawwaf was a member of Hamas’s political bureau from 2006 to 2010 and a member of the Hamas Shura Council from 2006 until his death in an Israeli airstrike on November 18, 2023. In an article published on the Al-Qassam Brigades’ website on September 27, 2023, shortly before he was killed, he wrote the following:
[A message] to the Zionists, particularly the settlers in the Gaza Envelope: Prepare to leave the area. It seems this will be the first departure from the Gaza Envelope, but keep your suitcases closed – do not unpack them – and get ready for your final departure from Palestine, so you won’t have to repack them later.
Your departure is imminent, and it is closer than you think. Your presence on this land, no matter how long it lasts, is that of an invader and an aggressor – a temporary presence. This land, which you are currently on, does not belong to you. The houses you have taken belong to their rightful owners, who, along with their children and grandchildren, have been waiting for over 75 years to return – and they will return soon, with Allah’s help.
As for you, you will be leaving. So leave before it is too late and take whatever you wish. Yes, this is your opportunity because the day of departure will be difficult if you do not take care of yourselves. In the best-case scenario, you will only escape with the clothes on your backs.
O settlers, this is a call to all of you: Leave of your own free will because your day of departure is near. Do not be deceived by your power, your money, your businesses, or your technology – they will not help you. Whether you leave sooner or later, when the Promise of the End of Days [the removal of the Jewish presence through Jihad], which Allah has promised to the believers – and we are among them, by Allah’s will – comes to pass, your departure will be sooner than you expect.
This is your chance – take it before it is too late. When the time comes, regret and sorrow will not help you, and your fate will be in the hands of the people of Palestine.
Israeli journalist Ayala Hasson of Kan 11 news, revealed on February 2, 2025, the contents of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operational order, which had been delivered to Al-Qassam Brigades commanders as early as September 23, 2023 – two weeks before the October 7 attack and four days before Al-Sawwaf’s message to the residents of the Gaza Envelope.
Here is an excerpt from Ayala Hasson’s statement:
Tonight, I am exposing a shocking fact: The October 7 attack was issued as a detailed, written operational order, covering every small and large aspect. This happened on Saturday, September 23 – two weeks before the October massacre. The one who issued the operational order was Mohammed Deif, and those who received it were approximately 25 Hamas brigade and battalion commanders, who were introduced to the ‘full-scale invasion’ plan, along with the senior officials who had already planned and been exposed to it earlier.
The operation’s date, October 7, was explicitly written in the document. The document details the attack in all its phases and components. The invasion was to be carried out in three waves: The first wave would consist of elite Nukhba forces. The second wave would include additional Nukhba forces alongside regular troops. The third wave was referred to as the ‘volunteer civilians’ wave – those whom we call ‘uninvolved civilians.’ Everything was already planned.
The document outlines the stages of the attack: first, an unprecedented barrage of high-trajectory rocket fire; next, the airborne ATVs with drones, intended, among other things, to damage surveillance systems and blind Israel’s eyes; and finally, the vehicular and foot invasion. The document specifies to the Hamas brigade and battalion commanders exactly which settlement and which outpost each of their forces would invade and capture.
