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Years before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and started the latest war in the region, the terror group plotted other assaults, including a scheme to blow up a skyscraper in Tel Aviv while pressuring Iran to assist in its battle against the Jewish state, according to documents found by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, the Washington Post reported.
The documents seized from Hamas command centers uncovered planning for the attacks using trains, boats and even horse-drawn chariots, according to the newspaper. The 59 pages of documents include an illustrated presentation detailing possible options for an attack as well as letters from Hamas to Iran’s top leaders in 2021 requesting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and training for 12,000 additional Hamas fighters.
"Hamas is so determined to wipe Israel and the Jewish people off the map that it managed to drag Iran into direct conflict — under conditions that Iran wasn’t prepared for," an Israeli security official who has reviewed the letters and planning documents told the Post. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive documents seized by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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Palestinians take control of an Israeli Merkava battle tank after crossing the border fence with Israel from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. (Getty Images)
The move to release the documents comes as Israel could possibly retaliate against Iran after the Islamic Republic launched nearly 200 missiles on Oct. 1 in response to the killing of Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group.
In the letters written in 2021, Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar appeals to several senior Iranian officials, including the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, for additional financial and military support, pledging that, with Iran’s backing, he could destroy Israel completely in two years.
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Israeli soldiers operate at a location given as southern Lebanon in this image released on October 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS)
"We promise you that we will not waste a minute or a penny unless it takes us toward achieving this sacred goal," states a June 2021 letter with apparent signatures by Sinwar as well as five other Hamas officials.
Iran initially declined to directly involve itself in the war between Hamas and Israel after Oct. 7. However, the conflict has expanded as its proxies continue to attack Israel on multiple fronts.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran accused Israel of spreading false information.
"We regard the Israeli regime as a mendacious criminal, anti-human entity and place no credence in their illusions," a spokesman for the mission said. "They have a long history of spreading falsehoods, fabricating already-counterfeit documents, and conducting deceptive psychological operations."
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A man walks past shelter tents erected near collapsed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on October 1, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images)
Some plans seized by the Israel Defense Forces include a computer slide presentation showing a Hamas outpost in northern Gaza with options and scenarios for attacking Israel, with targets ranging from military command centers to shopping malls.
Another described plans to destroy the Moshe Aviv Tower, a 70-story building in Tel Aviv that is Israel’s second tallest, as well as the Azrieli Center complex, which comprises three skyscrapers, a large shopping mall, train station and a cinema, according to the Post report.
Many rockets, fired from Iran, are seen over Jerusalem from Hebron, West Bank on October 01, 2024. The Israeli army announced that missiles were fired from Iran towards Israel and sirens were heard across the country, especially in Tel Aviv. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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"Working to find a mechanism to destroy the tower," the plan states.
Other plans of attack included targeting Israel's rail system and resurrecting horse-drawn carriages of antiquity as conveyances for fighters and weapons, the report said.