Overview

• A six-page memorandum dated Aug. 24, 2022 and attributed to Yahya Sinwar was recovered as a digitized image from a standalone computer in an underground compound tied to his brother Mohammed, Israeli officials told The New York Times.
• Unit 8200 recordings from Oct. 7 capture commanders urging fighters to set homes ablaze, kill at close range, take many hostages, and film the violence for rapid dissemination.
• The memo’s instructions include targeting nonmilitary areas, igniting neighborhoods with diesel or gasoline, filming atrocities for intimidation, and brutal directives against soldiers for Nukhba fighters.
• Israeli authorities enlisted a handwriting specialist who said the script matched prior Sinwar samples, while a Palestinian analyst close to Hamas questioned the memo’s authenticity; Hamas officials declined to comment.
• Officials say the materials show deliberate planning that contradicts Hamas’s public denials of intent to attack civilians, with analysts noting potential legal implications and Israeli security officials acknowledging renewed scrutiny of pre-attack intelligence lapses.