Days before Hamas attack, US intelligence warned of increased risk for Palestinian-Israeli conflict

International Desk: Ahead of the recent surprise attacks from Hamas on Israel, the US intelligence community issued two assessments based on the intelligence shared by Israel, warning the Biden administration about a growing risk of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, CNN reported, citing sources.

The two separate intelligence updates on September 28 and October 5 warned about Hamas preparing to escalate rocket attacks across the border.

A CIA wire on October 5 cautioned generally of the increasing possibility of violence by Hamas. A day ahead of the attack, US officials received reports from Israel signalling unusual Hamas activity, suggesting an imminent attack, as reported by CNN.

However, none of the assessments by US intelligence offered any tactical details or indications of the scope, scale, and brutality of the assault carried out by Hamas on October 7, CNN reported, citing sources. Moreover, there is uncertainty pertaining to whether any of these US assessments were shared with Israel.