The Terrorism Blueprint
New Insights: IDF Uncovers Sinwar’s Guide to Genocide - That's What They Found
IDF discovers detailed Hamas document outlining the psychological warfare strategy and military tactics behind the October 7 attack, including explicit instructions for creating terror.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has uncovered a chilling, handwritten document attributed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar within a Gaza tunnel, offering what Israeli intelligence suggests is the detailed blueprint and psychological warfare strategy for the October 7, 2023, cross-border attack.
The document, which dates back to August 24, 2022, outlines not only the military strategy for the infiltration but also explicit instructions to create deliberately shocking and terrifying imagery to provoke mass uprisings and inflict psychological damage on Israeli society.
The Blueprint for Psychological Terror
The core of the document focuses on generating extreme visual content to achieve specific psychological and political goals. Sinwar instructs commanders to deliberately cause terrifying effects, film them, and disseminate the footage rapidly to incite Palestinians and sow panic in Israel.
The text provides explicit instructions for the types of footage required:
"Commanders must be instructed to cause these effects deliberately, to film them and broadcast the footage as quickly as possible: soldiers' heads being stepped on, point-blank shootings, stabbing several people with knives, tanks exploding, soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads, and the like."
The plan also calls for creating scenes of mass destruction and arson to maximize fear:
"Plan in advance events that will yield terrifying images, several burning car bombs exploding at an outpost or building and creating horrific destruction, heart-rending scenes, terrible fires. Five or ten such images will sow mortal fear in them. May Allah strike them unawares and cast terror into their hearts. Organize for two or three actions whose objective is to burn down an entire neighborhood or kibbutz, pour gasoline or diesel from a special tanker, set it alight and broadcast the images."
Military Deception and Strategic Objectives
The document also details the deceptive tactics used in the preliminary phase of the attack, ensuring that the large-scale movement was masked as routine activity:
"The preliminary phase before the raid: it is essential that forces conduct intense movements weeks before any action by the Red Side, movements the enemy will regard as routine. This will serve as a cover story for the large-scale movement."
Sinwar provided a clear division of military labor among Hamas's brigades, strategically directing their objectives across the border to maximize the initial impact:
"The objectives of the northern brigade should primarily face toward the coastline. The objectives of the Gaza brigade should be to the northeast up to a certain angle. The objectives of the central camps brigade should be to the northeast inclined toward the east. The objectives of the Khan Yunis brigade should be eastward. The objectives of the Rafah brigade should be to the southeast."
Crucially, the directive stresses the need for maximum reinforcement and expansion during the initial hours to prevent any Israeli counterattack or intervention:
"Therefore it is essential to be prepared for force flows, to develop the attack, expand it and reinforce to the maximum during the first six to ten hours in order to establish solid facts on the ground that will thwart any possibility of a counterattack."
The unearthed document provides critical insight into the premeditated, high-level planning behind the October 7 assault, confirming that the brutality and widespread psychological impact were intentional components of Hamas's strategy.