The Israeli authorities got hold of Hamas' battle plan a year before the October 7 attack, but dismissed it as "imaginary," the US media reported.
The blueprint included 40 pages with detailed descriptions of planned attacks on fortifications around the Gaza Strip and key Israeli military facilities, but the Israeli authorities did not take the plan seriously considering it too hard for Hamas to carry out, the newspaper reported.
The plan also included information about the location and size of the Israel Defense Forces and other sensitive information, the report said.
It is still unclear whether top Israeli officials saw the blueprint. The newspaper also reported that three months before Hamas’ attack, the Israeli intelligence said that the movement had conducted a large-scale military training, the scenario of which matched that outlined in the plan, but Israeli officials considered the war plan to be "imaginary."
The Israeli authorities have already admitted that they failed to protect the country and were planning to convene a meeting to analyze the events leading up to the attack, according to the report.
Hamas has reportedly been drafting the plan for many years, which is why the fact that Israel ignored it could be called the biggest failure of Israeli intelligence since 1973.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing and abducting people. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a large-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. The conflict has so far resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and over 16,000 in the Gaza Strip.