Israeli President Isaac Herzog has revealed that the Hamas militants who carried out the October 7 attack on Israel had plans to use chemical weapons. According to reports, the fighters who broke into Israeli territory were carrying instructions on how to make cyanide-based bombs.
Speaking to Sky News, Herzog said that the documents, complete with diagrams and precise instructions to create a “cyanide dispersion device”, were based on Al Qaeda manuals from 2003. “This is how shocking the situation is where we’re looking at the instructions that are given on how to operate and how to create a kind of non-professional chemical weapon with cyanide,” he said.
According to a report by Axios, Israeli forces found a USB with instructions on the body of a militant who was killed during the attack. The report, based on Israeli intelligence sources, stated it is not yet clear if the Hamas had made any attempts to produce the chemical weapon. The Israeli foreign ministry sent the original file to its embassies, and instructed its diplomats to inform their counterparts that “Hamas wants to conduct attacks similar to that of the ISIS”.
“When dealing with ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hamas, this is what we’re dealing with,” Herzog added.
Other disturbing materials like Islamic State flags and instructions on how to kidnap and torture people were found from the gunmen, the Times of Israel reported.
Following the brutal massacre by Hamas militants two weeks ago, that led to the deaths of over 1,400 and over 200 people being taken hostage, Israel launched its offensive and vowed to destroy Hamas. As the conflict escalates, Israel has hinted that a ground invasion will come soon. However, multiple reports suggest that western countries have been pressuring Israel to delay the invasion till the hostages are released.
Equating the barbaric act of Hamas to the ISIS earlier, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that the “forces of civilisation must unite to defeat Hamas” just as they united to defeat ISIS.