As hundreds of Hamas terrorists crossed the border on the morning of October 7 to carry out massacres across the kibbutzim and communities of the South, one of the more shocking plans of ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ did not come to fruition.
The terror group that runs Gaza had an ambitious plan on October 7 to storm Ashkelon Central Prison (Shikma Prison) and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Arabic international newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat revealed on Monday.
However, the plan reportedly failed due to a technical mistake that led the group of terrorists to attack another settlement instead of the prison.
Sources close to Palestinian terror organizations that spoke with the newspaper reported that one of the first groups of terrorists who infiltrated Israeli territory had a mission to reach Ashkelon Prison and release the hundreds of detained Palestinians there. Sources close to the command of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that one of Hamas’s elite Nukhba units, consisting of 23 terrorists, was supposed to arrive at the prison to release the prisoners, while another group’s mission was to infiltrate a military base in the Ashkelon area before moving on to assist those already at the prison.
According to the report, the designated group crossed the border, set out towards Ashkelon, and reached Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, where it clashed with Israeli security forces. Israeli defenders managed to repel the attack. The terrorists then deviated from the original plan, returning south to the moshav of Netiv HaAsara.
The Hamas terrorists successfully infiltrated Netiv HaAsara, killing 22 people.
According to the report, the mistake was the result of the designated guide in charge of GPS and maps, who made a directional error leading the group southwards.
The plan reportedly relied on attacking the main gate of the prison using explosives and anti-tank missiles. The Hamas infiltrators intended to blow up the gate along with the security positions along the prison fence. All of this was supposed to occur alongside rocket fire from Gaza towards the prison, with a signal from the group that it was there.
The plan also relied on the cooperation of the prisoners to rise and riot, which would assist the group.
Navigational error led to the failure of the plan
However, Hamas’s military wing command received no signal from the group that it had reached the prison, and it was later revealed that it had somehow headed east after Netiv HaAsara and reached the Israeli city of Sderot, where the terrorists were instructed to wait.
The plan of attack on the prison appears to have still been on the minds of the Al-Qassam leaders. Four terrorists who participated in the storming of Kibbutz Zikim, where 19 civilians and eight soldiers were killed, were instructed to continue to try and reach the prison, but they were repelled by Israeli security forces before being targeted by air strikes, according to sources quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat.
The newspaper also published a map showing the route of the mentioned group that was supposed to reach the prison in Ashkelon.
Ashkelon Central Prison was founded during the British Mandate as a headquarters for the British Army stationed in the city. It holds about 1,000 prisoners.