Plan for Hamas massacre was born in 2014's Guardians of the Wall op

"The events of October 7 cannot be explained using existing Western analysis or "objectives" and "causes" found in the realm of Realpolitik. The war crime perpetrated by Hamas stems from a burning ideology and not from political, economic or social reasoning, and the massacre is perceived by the Islamist group as one more link in in the chain of its long-term vision to destabilize Israel and bring about its annihilation.

The attack plan was implanted in the mind of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the summer of 2014. He criticized the conduct of then-Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh in that war and swore the next one would be different. He said Hamas would be the instigator of the next war and it would begin on Israeli territory. Since then he has been committed to that goal.

This, therefore, is an apocalyptic battle which is not motivated by the here and now other than in its timing. Sinwar decided on the date after two main developments. The first was his estimation that Israeli society was entangled in inner conflict that reduced its ability to detect external threats and limited its ability to react and unite."