Hamas invasion intended to thwart Israeli peace with Saudi Arabia, docs reveal - WSJ

Hamas aimed to torpedo normalization efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia with the October 7 massacre, the Wall Street Journal wrote, citing Hamas meeting transcripts found by the IDF, Report informs via The Jerusalem Post.

The WSJ wrote that Hamas's former chief, Yahya Sinwar, was concerned that US-brokered normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia and Israel would take attention away from pushes for Palestinian statehood.

According to the documents, Sinwar said that there was “no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly," and that such an agreement would “open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.”

In the months leading up to Hamas's 2023 attack on southern Israel, the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia had all noted that differences were narrowing between the Arab kingdom and the Jewish state.

Sinwar reportedly planned the attack "to bring about a major move or a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause," the documents cited by the WSJ show.