A tragic lesson.

"The Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, were by far the most deadly terrorist attack on the country's history, and the resulting war is one of the most devastating to Palestinians, with over 15,000 dead so far, a number that will surely rise further as Israel tries to destroy Hamas completely." "Hamas leaders may have believed they were losing popular support in Gaza." CSIS. They calculated that as Israel attacked Gaza in its efforts to find the hostages, international media will focus on the Palestinian civilians killed or injured and there will be hysterical anguish from around the world, with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanding an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" (Reuters). To the Hamas, Palestinians are disposable. Hamas barbarians raped and brutalized scores of Israeli women, some of them so badly that it was difficult to identify them. CNN. "The Hamas terror group may have gained substantial profits from Israel stock markets ahead of the deadly October 7 terrorist attack as some traders may have had prior knowledge of the looming massacre and used it to short sell Israeli companies." MInt. "A new study conducted by US-based researchers titled 'Trading on Terror?' found that bets placed (in short selling) against Israeli companies spiked significantly five days ahead of the Hamas attacks." However, "There is no evidence some investors profited from knowledge of Hamas's attack on Israel before it took place on 7 October, the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) has said." BBC. "A number of news outlets have strongly rejected Israeli accusations that four freelance photographers they worked with in Gaza had prior knowledge of the Hamas attack on 7 October." BBC. Whether some outsiders did or did not have prior knowledge of the attack is irrelevant because Israeli security had detailed documents about Hamas's plans a full one year before the attack. "But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out." "The plan also included details about the location and size of Israeli military forces, communication hubs and other sensitive information, raising questions about how Hamas gathered its intelligence and whether there were leaks inside the Israeli security establishment." NYT. Apparently, "Israel has readied plans to flood Hamas's system of tunnels under the Gaza strip with water pumped from the Mediterranean Sea, a move aimed at destroying the terror group's subterranean network of passages and hideaways and driving its fighter above ground, according to a report." Times of Israel. This is really amazing. Not to flood Hamas's tunnels long before now and to see the plans for the attack and dismiss them are not just incredible, they are criminal. This has been a tragic lesson.