Israeli spies and military commanders held late-night meetings just hours before the October 7 attacks to discuss an imminent Hamas assault and knew of the threat to the Nova music festival, according to an investigation.
The first meeting took place close to midnight and the second one at 3am but attendees concluded that Hamas was holding a training exercise on the Gaza border rather than preparing for a terror attack, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.
In a sign of the seriousness with which the warnings were taken, Israeli troops were ordered to increase drone surveillance flights, a unit known as “Team Tequila”, which was specifically trained to prevent abductions, was deployed to Nahal Oz, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza, and two commando teams were alerted to the possibility of an incursion.
But no warnings were passed on to the organisers of the Nova festival, which was taking place near Kibbutz Re’im, just three miles from Gaza, where 360 people died and a further 40 were taken hostage.
Organisers said that if they had received a warning even an hour before the attack, they would have been able to evacuate the site.