Israel has claimed that Hamas operatives who carried out the October 7 attack had instructions on how to use cyanide-based chemical bombs, the New York Post reported. According to Israeli intelligence reviewed by Axios, the instructions were stored in USBs found on the bodies of Hamas operatives who invaded Kibbutz Be'eri near the Gaza Strip in Southern Israel. The directions included detailed diagrams for a ''cyanide dispersion device.''
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday confirmed the existence of instructions. He said that they were based on an Al Qaeda design for chemical weapons from 2003
"A USB device found on Hamas terrorists proves that the murderous terrorist organization planned to use cyanide against the civilian population, just as the al-Qaeda terrorist organization operates," President Isaac Herzog told Sky News on Sunday.
''It's Al Qaeda material. Official Al Qaeda material. We are dealing with ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hamas. 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 added.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry in the cable instructed its diplomats to tell their counterparts that Hamas wants "to conduct attacks in a similar way that ISIS tried to do."
Israeli officials have repeatedly compared Hamas to groups like ISIS, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Hamas ''worse than ISIS.''
''Just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed and Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be spat out from the community of nations. No leaders should meet them. No country should harbor them. And those that do should be sanctioned,'' the Prime Minister said.
Hamas even waved ISIS flags at some of the Kibbutzs that it attacked during the raid, according to photos released by Israeli Defense Force soldiers.
Meanwhile, Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes early today and its aircraft struck southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top generals and his war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict. Israel's attacks concentrated on the Gaza Strip's centre and north, Palestinian media reported.
Health authorities in Gaza said at least 4,600 people were killed in Israel's two-week bombardment that began after a Hamas October 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which 1,400 people were killed and 212 were taken into Gaza as hostages.
