New York Times report says Israel knew about Hamas attack over a year in advance | AP News |

Israeli officials had obtained Hamas's plan for an unprecedented attack on Israel over a year in advance, but had deemed the scenario to be aspirational, reports The New York Times in an investigation based on secret documents, published on Thursday, November 30. Israeli military intelligence had gotten hold of a 40-page Hamas document detailing, point by point, a large-scale attack matching the one perpetrated by commandos on October 7 - which left some 1,200 people dead in Israel - according to the American newspaper.

The document, which had circulated within intelligence circles under the code-name "Jericho Wall", did not specify a possible date for an attack, but defined precise points for overwhelming the Israeli security apparatus and then attacking towns and military bases. More specifically, the document describes a barrage of rockets, the use of drones to take out security cameras and automated defense systems, and then fighters who would cross to the Israeli side by paraglider, car and on foot - all of which were factors in the October 7 attack.

'A plan designed to start a war'

Yet it was "not yet possible to determine" whether this plan had been "fully accepted" by the Hamas leadership and how it might work out in reality, insists an internal Israeli army military assessment obtained by The New York Times. In July, however, an analyst from the elite signals intelligence Unit 8200 warned that Hamas had just conducted a military exercise that in many respects resembled the "Jericho Wall" document's attack plan. But a colonel in the military division responsible for Gaza dismissed her warning.

From Kan News link above (Hebrew) ...

The Wall of Jericho: Hamas's plan to occupy settlements and bases presented in May 2022

The information was in front of our eyes - Israel refused to see: in a presentation presented to the head of the IDF and the commander of the Southern Command back in May 2022, Hamas' plan to invade Israel was presented. A discussion on the issue was scheduled for October - but the attack preceded it | Written by Ila Hasson - 28.11.2023 |

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC has arrived in #Ramallah.

Prosecutor Khan will meet w/ their Excellencies the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of the State of #Palestine.

During his visit the Prosecutor will also meet with survivors and the families of victims. pic.twitter.com/msRcRDuNiS

— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) December 2, 2023

• Palestinian Rights Groups Snub ICC Prosecutor

  Khan has been visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank following a request by a group representing families of victims of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen, but he was also due to meet Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

  However Palestinian activists said they would refuse to see him because of their objections to what they saw as unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian cases.

  "As Palestinian human rights organizations, we decided not to meet him," said Ammar Al-Dwaik, director general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).

  "I think the way this visit has been handled shows that Mr. Khan is not handling his work in an independent and professional manner."

• Palestinian President Urges ICC to Speed Up Prosecution of `Israeli War Criminals'

  Abbas briefed the Prosecutor on Israel's violation of the sanctity of hospitals and shelters, the demolition of homes with civilians inside, the crimes of settler-colonial expansion, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and various other violations of international law and international humanitarian law.

  - Cases handover -

  In 2014, the Palestinian Authority (PA) handed over files to the ICC on multiple Israeli crimes during the war on Gaza.

  Furthermore, there is the case against Israeli settlement, including illegal construction on Palestinian land and settlers' terrorism, which led to the killing of Palestinian civilians.

  The Palestinians will now submit new files about the current war.

  - Delayed justice -

  For years, the Palestinians have been documenting Israeli crimes in the Palestinian territories.

  Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said during his meeting with Khan on Saturday that delaying justice is an absence of justice itself.

  Shtayyeh added that the ICC should be for sentencing and deterrence, asserting that for 75 years now, Israel has been acting like it is above the law.

Feels so weird that a journalist from CNN has the protection to report on my country, when Palestinians themselves are being killed.
At least 49 Palestinians journalists have been killed since Oct. 7 [_link]

— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) November 14, 2023

She lost a colleague a few days ago ...

Anadolu cameraman killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza | Anadolu Agency |

Montaser Al-Sawaf lost a great deal of blood and was in serious condition, and doctors - struggling with substandard conditions and a lack of supplies - were unable to save him, says his cousin

Montaser Al-Sawaf, an Anadolu freelance cameraman reporting in Gaza on Friday, was killed in Israeli airstrikes, newly resumed after a one-week pause. 

"Sawaf, his brother Mervan, and other family members were martyred during Israeli airstrikes in the Ed-Durc neighborhood of southern Gaza," Hassan Ismameh, the journalist's cousin, told Anadolu.

After being seriously injured in the bombing, Al-Sawaf had to wait for an ambulance for about half an hour, he added. Al-Sawaf was eventually transported to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital by private vehicle after no medical teams arrived, said Ismameh.

Al-Sawaf, along with his brother and other relatives killed in Israel's attack, was laid to rest in the city's al-Batsh cemetery.