Secret Hamas Files Show Push to Derail Saudi Israel Normalization Before October 7

Documents seized in Gaza and analyzed by the Amit Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Research, and aired Sunday by Kan News, show that Hamas leaders were fixated on stopping normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the run-up to October 7. The files indicate that by early 2022, Hamas had concluded that a Saudi Israeli deal could trigger a wider wave of Arab normalization and push the Palestinian issue to the margins. Until now, that motive had been treated only as a theory.

In February 2022, about 20 months before the October 7 attack, Hamas’s Gaza leadership held a meeting and decided to create a dedicated office to manage what the protocol called the strategy of fighting normalization. The office was tasked with shaping the movement’s vision, doctrine, general policy, and work plan, while coordinating across Hamas’s relevant organs. The documents also show that Hamas believed Gaza alone was not enough, and that escalation in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem could help undermine the Saudi normalization track. One recommendation said the movement should intensify unrest in the West Bank and Jerusalem, noting that the Second Intifada had helped derail an earlier normalization project linked to the Arab Peace Initiative.

By 2023, Hamas leaders reportedly realized their efforts were not delivering the desired results. Two weeks before the attack, Yahya Sinwar led a decisive meeting on the issue and presented a paper titled, “Dealing with the normalization process between Saudi Arabia and Israel.” According to the minutes, Sinwar said normalization was “a total disease,” called Saudi Arabia’s role “painful, troubling, reprehensible and strange,” and accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of seeking regional leadership at everyone else’s expense. He added that Hamas was not insignificant, saying it could disrupt plans just as it had helped foil Oslo, and vowed to damage the Zionist enemy and deny legitimacy to the normalization partners.

At the final Hamas meeting on October 2, 2023, Sinwar said the Saudi normalization effort would lead to “regional deterioration” and concluded that there was no choice but to carry out an “exceptional action” by Hamas and its partners in the resistance axis. Five days later, at 06:29 on October 7, Hamas launched its unprecedented assault on Israel. The Saudi Israeli normalization process was then frozen, and remains stalled to this day.