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Hamas aimed to derail “normalization’’ talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia by launching the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and plunging Gaza into war, newly unearthed documents show.
Days before the attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, Hamas chief and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar allegedly told his men that an “extraordinary act” was needed to stop Israel and Saudi Arabia from reaching an agreement where the latter would formally recognize the Jewish state, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Sinwar, who was killed last year, feared that such a deal would undermine Hamas’ cause for the destruction of Israel and creation of a Palestinian state — with the terror chief ordering his men to immediately prepare for the attack they’ve been waiting on for two years, according to the documents from a Oct. 2, 2023, meeting and discovered in tunnel-riddled Gaza.
“There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly,” Sinwar allegedly said at the time — and warning that the deal would “open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.”
Experts and diplomats have long said that if Riyadh enters normalization agreements with Israel, it would pave the wave for wider Israeli-Arab peace and undermine the influence of anti-Israel countries such as Iran, which supports Hamas.
Saudi officials had been continuing to push for a two-state solution as a condition for formally recognizing Israel as an ally nation — meaning the Palestinian territory would be recognized as an independent entity, as well — and mediators said both countries were closer than ever to reaching an agreement in 2023.
Sinwar allegedly believed that by plunging the region into war, Israel would face backlash from the Arab world, leaving Riyadh with no choice but to distance itself from the Jewish state.
The events went as Hamas planned, but the consequences for the attack went far beyond what the terror group had allegedly prepared for.
The terrorist attack led to an all-out war in the Gaza Strip that has left nearly the entire enclave razed to the ground, displacing the nearly 2 million Palestinian refugees who continue to see aid blocked off at the border.
The war has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians.
Most of the masterminds behind the attack, including Sinwar, have also been killed, with the Israel Defense Forces’ last estimating that it had slain at least 20,000 terrorists as of March 2025.
But just as Hamas’ top brass predicted, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman distanced himself from Israel after the start of the war, with Riyadh criticizing the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza from Israel’s retaliation.
The prince’s position has remained unchanged — even during President Trump’s visit to Riyadh last week, when Trump called on Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, which he established during his first term in 2020.
“You’ll do it in your own time,” Trump later conceded to Saudi officials.
It remains unclear if Riyadh will ever rejoin normalization talks with Israel as the crown prince has reiterated this past year that such negotiations will only occur if the war in Gaza ends and Israel agrees to lay the pathway for a Palestinian state.
A two-state solution is seen as a non-starter in Jerusalem, with most Israeli politicians abandoning the prospects after the terrorist attack.
English (US)