Documents seized by Israel in the Gaza Strip show that Hamas leaders discussed efforts to derail Saudi-Israeli normalization before the October 7 massacre, KAN News reported on Sunday, citing material processed and analyzed by the Amit Institute for Terrorism and Intelligence Research.
According to the report, the documents include internal protocols from Hamas leadership meetings in which the group described normalization between Jerusalem and Riyadh as a strategic threat to Hamas and to the Palestinian issue.
One document from 2022 said Hamas had decided to establish a dedicated body to lead its campaign against normalization, according to KAN.
The body was tasked with shaping Hamas’s strategy, policy, and operational plan for opposing regional normalization efforts, the report said.
In one document cited by KAN, Hamas called for efforts to “increase escalation on the ground, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, in order to disrupt the Saudi kingdom’s normalization process.”
The Jerusalem Post has previously reported, citing documents published by the Wall Street Journal, that Hamas leaders believed a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal was advancing before October 7 and feared it could open the door for other Arab and Muslim countries to follow.
Sinwar singled out Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Two weeks before October 7, then-Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar presented a document focused on Saudi-Israeli normalization and sharply criticized Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the protocols reported by KAN.
“Saudi Arabia has a special status at the Arab and Islamic level and great influence, and this is a regrettable, troubling, condemnable, and puzzling step,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.
Sinwar also said that bin Salman was seeking to establish himself as the region’s leader, adding that his “growing ambitions” had consequences for the Palestinian issue and the region.
Before October 7, the United States had been working to advance a possible Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement, a move widely seen as a potential expansion of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020 and later included Morocco and Sudan.
Final meeting before October 7
According to KAN, Sinwar assessed that Hamas might not be able to stop normalization entirely, but could disrupt it and strip it of legitimacy.
At the final Hamas leadership meeting before the October 7 attack, held on October 2, 2023, Sinwar described Saudi-Israeli normalization as a regional threat, the report said.
“There is no escape from an extraordinary action by the movement and the forces of the resistance axis in order to create a major shift or strategic turning point,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.
Saudi normalization remains distant
Saudi Arabia has continued to link any normalization with Israel to progress on Palestinian rights and statehood, the Post reported in May 2026, noting that Riyadh has long supported the Arab Peace Initiative.
The issue remains diplomatically sensitive after the Gaza war, with Gulf states wary of outside pressure to join the Abraham Accords, according to recent reporting in the Post.
The documents do not alone establish that Saudi-Israeli normalization was the sole reason for the October 7 massacre, but they provide a rare look into Hamas’s internal discussions in the period before the attack.
