A hostage-taking guide that an official within the Israel Protection Forces instructed me was recovered within the aftermath of the Hamas assault means that the group’s hostage-taking on October 7 didn’t go in keeping with plan. Proper now, greater than 200 hostages are considered in Hamas’s palms in Gaza. The guide means that the group at first supposed to not spirit all of them into Gaza, however as a substitute to take them hostage the place they had been discovered inside Israel, probably for a protracted standoff.
The Atlantic obtained a replica of the guide from an IDF official, who vouched for its authenticity and who requested to not be recognized due to the sensitivity of the supplies. Israeli President Isaac Herzog had earlier referred to the doc in an interview on CNN, calling it “an instruction information, how to enter civilian areas, right into a kibbutz, a metropolis, a moshav [agricultural co-op].” He mentioned it described “precisely methods to torture them, methods to abduct them, methods to kidnap them.”
The hostage-taking, in keeping with the guide, is supposed to occur “within the area,” in areas which were “cleansed” and introduced below management. After the hostages are introduced collectively, it says, they need to be culled (“kill these anticipated to withstand and people who pose a menace”); the others must be sure and blindfolded, then “reassured,” to maintain them docile. “Use them as human shields,” it says, and use “electrical shocks” to power compliance.
“Kill the troublesome ones,” it provides. It particularly notes the necessity to separate ladies and kids from males—affirmation that the snatching of kids was deliberate from the beginning, and never the product of some form of extra fervor following battlefield success. The guide specifies that solely senior area commanders ought to negotiate with Israeli authorities, after which solely with the recommendation of their very own superiors, presumably nonetheless in Gaza. The ultimate part, which has circulated on-line however was not included within the IDF model, advises the hostage-takers to threaten to kill prisoners in the event that they revolt, or if Israel assaults or tries to gasoline them. (The doc in any other case matches the one I acquired from the IDF, which might not authenticate the ultimate part.)
The guide is printed out and marked confidential on prime. It’s written in Arabic, and features a information to Israeli navy ranks and weaponry. There’s one small, handwritten touch upon the primary web page, and the graphics on the quilt counsel that it was an official manufacturing of the unit that created it. It’s unimaginable to inform whether or not the guide was a information for all hostage-taking operations, or just for these on the website the place it was recovered. The doc bears a canopy with the seal of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s navy wing), and a watermark from one thing known as the “al-Quds Battalion.”
All the guide’s directions counsel that the state of affairs initially envisioned was a standoff inside Israeli territory. Such standoffs occurred over the course of the assault, akin to in Kibbutz Be’eri, however none lasted for days, because the attackers appear to have anticipated. A complete part is dedicated to “provides,” particularly the hoarding of meals and drinks, flashlights, batteries, and different gear helpful in holding out throughout a protracted siege. “Don’t use your individual provides to feed the hostages,” it cautions, “besides in an emergency.”
The obvious discrepancy between the state of affairs Hamas appears to have deliberate for and the one that’s nonetheless unfolding explains a few of the haphazard nature of the hostage-taking. Hostages had been introduced into Gaza with improvised transport, together with SUVs, golf carts, and motorbikes. No such improvisation is talked about within the guide I obtained: The Hamas members seem to not have anticipated that they might switch their victims in such a disorderly method, or certainly switch them in any respect. Simply as almost all Israelis had been shocked at how little resistance Hamas encountered, Hamas itself was doubtless delay steadiness by its fast dominance of the battlefield and skill to proceed dominating it for hours, with out encountering the total power of a contemporary navy.
The al-Quds Battalion barely exists on-line. Subunits of armed teams in Israel and Palestine proliferate and divide quickly, so the existence of a brand new named group is just not itself uncommon. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), one other group with a major presence in Gaza, has an al-Quds “brigade” (saraya). And on October 6—the day earlier than the Hamas atrocities—PIJ introduced that an al-Quds “battalion” (katiba) would function within the West Financial institution. However this guide is clearly marked as an al-Qassam Brigades operational guide.
A Quranic quote additionally seems on the quilt: “Our forces will definitely succeed” (37:173). The writer of the guide foresees the hostage state of affairs ending—he doesn’t say how—with Hamas leaving the location. He says to mark the burial websites of Hamas’s lifeless, to allow them to be disinterred and moved after Israel’s eventual withdrawal from the land. However the impact of Hamas’s success was not predictable both by its perpetrators or by its victims. 2 hundred hostages, starting from little infants to previous ladies, is an order of magnitude extra hostages than Israel ever contemplated in its worst nightmares, and Israel’s conviction that Hamas should now be eradicated is largely because of the enormity of this crime. The hostage-takers carried out a extra profitable operation than they anticipated, probably much more profitable than they wished.
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