By Mati Cohen                                                                    

Did the Shin Bet receive golden information from Palestinian intelligence on the evening of Saturday, October 6, that the attack would take place that morning?

The first intelligence report:

It now turns out that two days before the attack, on Thursday, October 5, Palestinian Authority intelligence officers who work on its behalf in Gaza, contacted the PA's intelligence headquarters in Ramallah, and told their commanders that Hamas was preparing for a major operation. The Palestinian intelligence was convinced that the news was not true, and replied to their people in Gaza that it was maneuvers and training. Did they receive this answer from the Israeli intelligence or did it just the concept that spread in the Israeli intelligence about Hamas that also permeated the Palestinian intelligence? we don't know.

The Second intelligence report:

On the evening before the attack, on October 6th just before midnight, the PA's Muhbarat personnel called their commanders in Ramallah again, and repeated the report that Hamas intends to launch a major operation, and emphasized that there is no mistake, and that this is very close to happening. They also relied on the fact that all Nohva terrorists were required to hand over their phones to their commanders that night. This time the intelligence officers in Ramallah were convinced that the news was true. A senior Palestinian source said that because of the Sabbath and the holiday in Israel, contact with the Shin Bet was not simple and routine that evening, and therefore through the usual channels this news was not conveyed to the Shin Bet. However, to our question as to whether a source in the Palestinian intelligence had nevertheless forwarded the report through other channels to the Shin Bet, the Palestinian source replied that the possibility of this is high, but he does not know. We know, the source said, that of all the organizations that were in the telephone discussion a few hours before the attack, only the head of the Shin Bet did not go back to sleep, and he went to the organization's headquarters and from there dispatched the Tequila force to the south. We also know, the source added, that the news that the phones were taken from Hamas members by their commanders, it was in the hands of the Shin Bet, and it is possible that it originated in Palestinian intelligence.