Two Israeli officials claim the Israel Defense Forces discovered a USB drive containing instructions for creating a “cyanide dispersion device” on a Hamas operative associated with the terrorist groups’ attacks two weeks ago, according to Axios.
This discovery was detailed by two Israeli officials, and the outlet obtained a copy of a classified Israeli Foreign Ministry cable.
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“This finding points to an intention by Hamas to use chemical weapons as part of its terror attack against civilians," the cable claims, according to Axios.
According to Axios, it remains unclear from the file whether Hamas had a concrete plan or operational intent to use the chemical weapons or if the terror group was attempting to produce the makeshift weapons.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry's weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation department reportedly transmitted a classified cable titled "Hamas intention of using chemical weapons" to Israeli embassies, including those in Washington D.C., on Thursday.
The authenticity of the Hamas file was not confirmed by Axios or the Washington Examiner, with Israeli officials telling the outlet they would only share information with their allies if they felt it was authentic and reliable. Axios reports that Israeli intelligence tracked the origin of the file back to a 2003 al-Qaeda manual.
Since the start of the attacks on Oct. 7, Israeli soldiers claimed to be collecting documents from Hamas militants detailing the group's plans of attack, which include threatening the kibbutz of Sa'ad. Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog showed a small handbook that he claimed contains torture and kidnapping tactics that Hamas would use on hostages — found on the body of one of the terrorists.
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The CIA’s World Factbook says Hamas trains its militants to build their own weapons and obtains smuggled weapons from Iran.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Embassy of Israel and was directed to an IDF spokesperson for comment.