Top Iran, Hamas officials met 4 times in 2023 prior to October 7 attack - intel

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) issued a report on Sunday saying that top Iranian and Hamas officials had met at least four times in 2023 leading into the October 7 invasion of the South.

In addition, top officials from Iran and Gaza’s terror rulers also spoke by telephone at least four times this year.

Multiple Israeli officials have told The Jerusalem Post that although Tehran did not give an explicit order to carry out the October 7 massacre of 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, Hamas could not have succeeded in such a sophisticated and perfectly synchronized operation without Iranian funding, logistics assistance, provision of weapons, and training.

The intelligence center often works with open sources, but given that it is run by top former intelligence officials, it is also networked in with the current intelligence community.

'Israel has been waging war against the 'axis of resistance''

Meir Amit’s report said that since October 7, “Israel has been waging war against the 'axis of resistance,’ led by Iran and two of its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran’s support for Hamas and Hezbollah goes beyond the current war and previous rounds of conflict between Israel and the terrorist organizations in Gaza.

“It considers its network of proxies part of its military strength and deterrent capability," the ITIC wrote. "Controlling a network of armed terrorist organizations, which includes Hamas, the Islamic Jihad in Palestine (PIJ), and Hezbollah, allows Iran to act against its opponents – primarily, but not exclusively Israel and the United States – with room for plausible deniability, reducing the risk of escalation to the point of direct military confrontation with its enemies.”

Next, the report said, “Hezbollah is considered Iran’s preferred strategic arm, providing it with the capabilities to deter Israel and advance its regional interests. Since the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has played a central role in the restoration of Hezbollah’s arsenal.”

According to the report, “Ideologically, Hezbollah is considered the organization most committed to the Islamic Republic, mainly due to the religious commitment of the organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to the leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.”

But Tehran’s desire to intensify its threats against Israel with a “ring of fire” around its borders has led Iran to strengthen its ties with other terrorist groups operating near Israel, especially Hamas.

Common denominator is the concept of 'resistance'

EVEN THOUGH Hamas is a Sunni, and not a Shi’ite Muslim movement, their common denominator is the concept of “resistance” and the desire to destroy Israel, said the report.

This means that Iran regards Hamas and the PIJ, “as centers of power in the Palestinian arena, which can be used to advance its regional goals, especially vis-à-vis Israel. Through the Quds Force, Iran provides the organizations with weapons and funding of tens of millions of dollars a year, transfers technological knowledge for the development and manufacture of weapons, and trains their terrorist operatives.”

The intelligence center flagged that during the past two years, Iran and Hamas have coordinated continually.

In July 2022, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with representatives of the Palestinian terrorist organizations in Syria, including Hamas,

The Iranian foreign minister later met with representatives of the Palestinian terrorist organizations in Damascus, including the Hamas delegation headed by Usama Hamdan in January 2023.

Next, it was reported in April that Esmail Ghaani, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, met with Hamas leader Isma’il Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-‘Arouri in Damascus.

Then, a Hamas delegation headed by Haniyeh went to Tehran in June.

The delegation, which also included ‘Arouri and senior members of the Khalil al-Haya organization Muhammad Nasr and Nizar Awadallah, met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian, and IRGC commander Hossein Salami.

Finally, senior Quds Force and Hamas officials met in July 2023.

Those are just the known in-person meetings of top officials, and do not include secret, unreported meetings or the many likely meetings between mid- and lower-level officials.

Hamas, Iran held numerous phone conferences with top officials in 2023

Moreover, Hamas and Iran held numerous phone conferences between top officials in 2023.

In January, Iran’s foreign minister spoke on the phone with Haniyeh.

Moreover, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian leader’s senior advisor for international affairs, spoke on the phone with Haniyeh in February.

In addition, the Iranians spoke on the phone with Haniyeh and Yahya al-Sinwar, head of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip in April.

Velayati spoke to Haniyeh again just around two months ago in August 2023.

Iran congratulated Hamas for massacre

FOLLOWING THE brutal attack on October 7, “senior officials of the Iranian regime congratulated Hamas for the massacre it had committed, declared that Hamas’s action was the beginning of the victory of the Islamic nation and the 'resistance' over Israel, and emphasized their continued support for Hamas. Iranian leader Ali Khamenei stated that Iran ‘kisses the hands of the Palestinians’ who planned the attack on Israel.”

Further, Khamenei said Iran was proud of the Palestinians and supported them, although those who linked the Islamic Republic to the attack against Israel were wrong.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Meir Amit center said, “Iran has been working to instruct, support, and encourage its proxies, headed by Hamas and Hezbollah, to use coordinated force against Israel.”

“A few days after the outbreak of the war, Abdollahian paid visits to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Qatar... met with the heads of the Palestinian terrorist organizations and [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah, and also spoke on the phone with the leaders of Hamas and the PIJ,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, “since the outbreak of the war, Iran has intensified its threats against continued Israeli activity in Gaza. Apparently, Iran fears an Israeli ground campaign could challenge the survival of Hamas, which is a key Iranian tool in its efforts to establish its influence in the Palestinian arena.”

“It therefore has increased its threats against Israel in an attempt to prevent it from continuing the campaign and by using various members of the 'resistance front,' including the pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias in Syria, Iraq, or Yemen, as a stratum of response against Israel,” stated the report.

In parallel, Iran has increased its military support for the Palestinian terrorist organizations by transferring weapons to the Judea and Samaria arena to ignite and wage a campaign against Israel.

Next, “the many Iranian references to events in Judea and Samaria are consistent with Israeli exposures of growing Iranian activity in the Palestinian arena, including attempts to establish Iranian intelligence networks in Israel, Judea and Samaria, establish terrorist networks disguised as civilian organizations, and transfer explosives using unmanned aerial vehicles.”