Israel Finds 'Coordination Documents' Between Hamas and Hezbollah Before October 7 Attack

Israel said it found documents during its military operations in the Gaza Strip, revealing details about the relationship between the Palestinian Hamas movement and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

The documents, according to the Israeli army radio correspondent, include correspondence, meeting minutes, and intelligence reports dating back to the period between 2019 and 2023, and indicate a role for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in supporting this coordination.

According to the documents, relations between Hamas and Hezbollah entered a new phase in 2019, coinciding with the movement's development of its military plans, as part of preparations for a multi-front confrontation against Israel.

During that period, former Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh sent a message to former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in which he affirmed his aspiration for the party's participation in any future confrontation with Israel, while a similar message was sent to former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in a step described as the beginning of establishing a coordination framework between the parties of what is known as the "Axis of Resistance."

Guardian of the Walls

The documents showed that the first practical application of coordination came during the "Guardian of the Walls" operation in 2021, through the establishment of a joint operations room in the Lebanese capital Beirut that included representatives from Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

According to what was stated in the documents, Hezbollah provided intelligence information to Hamas regarding the movements of the Israeli army, air force, and troop deployments, and the operations room remained in session throughout the confrontation period.

The documents mentioned that Hezbollah transferred intelligence information that helped Hamas uncover what Israel described as a deception plan related to targeting the tunnel network known as the "Gaza Metro," in addition to providing an early warning before an attempt to assassinate the commander of the North Gaza Brigade, Ahmed al-Ghandour, after monitoring intensive intelligence activity in the Jabalia area, which allowed the movement to take precautionary measures.

The documents also revealed a divergence in views between the two sides regarding the level of military participation, as the Hamas leadership, according to the correspondence, expressed dissatisfaction with the limited intervention of Hezbollah during the "Guardian of the Walls" battle, demanding the opening of the northern front to relieve pressure on the Gaza Strip, while one of Hassan Nasrallah's assistants pledged to convey these demands to the party's leadership.

Beirut Meeting

Beirut hosted in May 2022, a meeting that included leaders from Hamas, including Saleh al-Arouri and Khalil al-Hayya, alongside Hassan Nasrallah and officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

During the meeting, Hamas presented a vision for a broad regional confrontation, based on its assessment of the weak political situation inside Israel, escalating tension in the West Bank, the international community's preoccupation with the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, as well as seeking to disrupt the path of Arab normalization with Israel, according to the documents.

But Hassan Nasrallah did not give direct approval, according to the documents, but rather demanded defining the strategic goals of the war, asking whether the goal was to topple Israel or achieve specific gains, which prompted the Hamas leadership to convey his observations to Yahya Sinwar, who later began preparing different scenarios for the confrontation.

The Second Promise

The documents indicated that Sinwar proposed a plan named "The Second Promise," based on carrying out a surprise and simultaneous attack from several fronts with the aim of delivering a strategic blow to Israel.

In its early stages, the plan was linked to its execution during one of the Jewish holidays, and Passover in 2023 was among the proposed dates, and it also included visions for using the Jordanian and Syrian borders within multi-arena operations.

The documents showed that Hassan Nasrallah later expressed his support for these visions, considering them feasible, provided they were presented to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The documents, citing internal Hamas meeting minutes, reported that Yahya Sinwar believed during 2023 that Iran and Hezbollah had become more prepared to participate in a joint confrontation with Israel, and predicted weeks before the October 7 attack the opening of multiple fronts immediately upon the outbreak of the confrontation.

According to the documents, Sinwar sent, minutes after the start of the October 7 attack, a message to Hassan Nasrallah requesting urgent intervention through launching rockets and launching a ground attack from the northern front, but the documents say that Hezbollah later limited itself to limited operations, which was considered one of the reasons that prevented the expansion of the confrontation to other fronts.

Peace Council

On January 14 last, the United States of America announced the start of the implementation of the second phase of US President Donald Trump's plan, consisting of 20 points to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The plan is scheduled to include the entry of food aid of at least 600 trucks daily, the reconstruction of the Strip, and the formation of a transitional Palestinian technocratic management committee working under the supervision of the "Peace Council."

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip entered into force on October 10, 2025, which resulted from indirect negotiations between the Hamas movement and Israel hosted by the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, with mediation by Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Turkey.

Based on President Trump's proposal to end the war in Gaza, Hamas and Israel signed the arrangements for its first phase.

On October 13, 2025, the Hamas movement released the remaining living Israeli detainees it held, numbering 20 hostages, and later handed over a number of the hostages' bodies.

Hamas confirmed at the time that it continues to work to locate the last remaining body to also hand it over to Israel, which in return released about 2000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its prisons, as part of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza.