Herzog: Hamas had plans to deploy chemical weapons
Herzog: Hamas had plans to deploy chemical weapons
Israeli troops found instructions for dispersing cyanide gas on the body of one of the Oct. 7 terrorists, according to the Israeli president.
STAFF - OCT 23, 2023
Israeli security forces found instructions for producing cyanide gas on the body of one of the Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli President Isaac Herzog revealed on Sunday.
Speaking with Sky News, Herzog said that troops found a USB flash drive with instructions for preparing a device to disperse the poisonous gas, once used for mass murder in Nazi gas chambers.
“This is material which was found on the body of one of those sadistic villains. It’s Al-Qaeda material, official Al-Qaeda material,” Herzog told the British TV network.
“When dealing with ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Hamas, this is what we’re dealing with,” added the Israeli head of state.
Late last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation department informed embassies around the world of “Hamas’s intention to use chemical weapons” in a classified cable, according to Axios.
The cable reportedly instructed ambassadors to share the file with their host governments privately. “This discovery indicates that Hamas intended to use chemical warfare agents as part of its series of terrorist operations against the civilian population,” read the missive.
Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 5,400 in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.
As of Sunday, 302 people remained hospitalized, of whom 43 were seriously wounded, 172 moderately wounded and 87 lightly wounded, according to Health Ministry data.
Herzog first revealed a disturbing Hamas booklet found on a Palestinian terrorist’s corpse in one of the Gaza-area communities on Oct. 15.
“This booklet is an operating manual, how to enter citizens’ yards, kibbutz, city, moshav, how to break in there. And first—and what do you do when you find the citizens? You torture them. This is the booklet that says exactly how to torture them, how to kidnap them,” Herzog told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
In a copy of the guide provided for the press, the manual—titled “The Warrior’s Guide: Jihadi Version”—outlines tactics that include creating chaos, intimidating captives, applying electric shocks and carrying out executions.
The eight-page guide instructs the terrorists to use captives as human shields if attacked, regardless of their religion, race or gender. The hostages should be “killed when necessary,” especially if there is any sign of revolt among them, it says, while instructing terrorists to document their actions live.
“The story is not Israel versus the Palestinians or Judaism versus Islam. The story is about where humanity should stand, are we with the good or the evil,” said Herzog.