On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog claimed that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) discovered a USB key with instructions for making a “cyanide dispersion device” on the body of a Hamas operative who took part in the 7 October terrorist attack.
Israel's president has confirmed Axios' report that the IDF found a USB key with instructions for producing a "cyanide dispersion device" on the body of a Hamas operative who participated in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack https://t.co/1OKvlujN7i
— Axios (@axios) October 22, 2023
Herzog’s Comments
Herzog confirmed the existence of such alarming instructions in an interview with Sky News in the UK on Sunday. He said the instructions came from an al-Qaeda design of chemical weapons from 2003.
The Israeli President told Sky News, “This is how shocking the situation is where we’re looking at the instructions that are given on how to operate and how to create a kind of non-professional chemical weapon with cyanide.”
Speaking to the news channel, Herzog showed printouts of digital material retrieved by the IDF from a USB key. He demonstrated that the instructions came from an al-Qaeda manual and produced an outline of the file’s cyanide dispersion device.
“It’s al-Qaeda material. Official al-Qaeda material. We are dealing with ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Hamas,” Herzog remarked.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry statement stated that cutting off children’s heads, a manual for abducting prisoners, and instructions for using chemical substances for mass murder are all atrocious patterns of behaviour that indicate Hamas’ links to ISIS.
A USB device found on Hamas terrorists proves that the murderous terrorist organization planned to use cyanide against the civilian population, just like Al-Qaeda terrorists.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) October 22, 2023
Watch an excerpt from my interview this evening on Sky News: pic.twitter.com/VIYvPcTdUN
Axios pointed out on Saturday that late last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s department dealing with the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction sent a classified cable under the heading, “Hamas intention of using chemical weapons,” to Israeli embassies in dozens of capitals worldwide, including Washington.
The cable’s contents indicated Hamas’ desire to use chemical weapons in terror strikes against people. It recommended embassies to inform ambassadors that Hamas had been directed “to conduct attacks in a similar way that ISIS tried to do.”
Israel Increases Strikes on Gaza
After Hamas terrorists carried out an unexpected rampage across southern Israeli towns on 7 October, Israel launched relentless air attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Reports indicate that Israel has considerably increased its attacks on Gaza to clear out possible resistance in the territory’s north in preparation for a ground invasion.
Israel launched air attacks on Gaza early Monday, while its planes hit southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his senior generals and war cabinet to discuss the escalating violence.
On Sunday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that Israel’s retaliatory air and missile attacks killed at least 4,651 Palestinians, including almost 2,000 children, and displaced more than a million of the territory’s 2.3 million population.
#Israel, which promotes the idea that it seeks peaceful existence, has attacked #Gaza, the #WestBank, #Lebanon, #Egypt, and #Syria in the last 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/AutcaOTdMW
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 22, 2023
Escalating Regional Conflict
In neighbouring Syria, where Hamas’ main regional supporter, Iran, has a military presence, Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early Sunday, putting both out of operation and killing two workers, as reported by Syrian state media.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been engaging in more clashes with Israeli soldiers along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon in support of Hamas.
During a visit to Israeli forces on the Lebanese border, the Israeli PM warned that if Hezbollah, the terrorist Shia Muslim group, decides to take part in the war, it will result in “unimaginable” counter-attacks that will cause “devastation” in Lebanon.
On Saturday night, Israel claimed it targeted numerous Hezbollah targets, including a complex from which a missile was fired at one of its drones.
Later, Israeli troops targeted three groups of fighters, who launched or were prepared to shoot anti-armour missiles across the border, the military claimed, which also shot down a drone coming from Lebanon.
Tensions in West Bank
Tensions are also high in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers have recently clashed with terrorists in refugee camps and carried out two air strikes.
Additionally, the IDF stated it carried out an aerial attack on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist complex in Jenin’s Al-Ansar Mosque. It hit a facility beneath a mosque in the West Bank that Israel believes extremists were using to plan attacks.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli troops murdered six Palestinians in the West Bank on Sunday, raising the total number of killings in the West Bank since 7 October to 91.