Weeks before the terrorist group's deadly assault on Israel, hundreds of Palestinians received "specialized combat training" in Iran.
The media, quoting "people familiar with intelligence" regarding the horrific October 7 Hamas massacre that claimed 1,400 Israeli lives, the majority of them civilians, revealed that 500 members of Palestinian Islamic and Hamas participated in training last month under the direction of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel has consistently charged Iran with playing a major role in the orchestrated Hamas assault on Israel, during which the group managed to take down the sophisticated Gaza border barrier and pour across the border to launch a devastating assault on neighboring communities that resulted in the kidnapping of at least 224 people.
Iran has expressed support for the Hamas attack, but it disputes any involvement in its preparation. IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari blamed Iran directly for aiding in the planning of the heinous act, hours before the report was released.
Iran had provided direct assistance to Hamas “before the war, with training, supplying weapons, money and technological know-how," according to Hagari, who made this claim at a press conferen In the present, he continued, "intelligence and online incitement against the State of Israel are two ways that Iran supports Hamas."