Media: US scrambles to close intelligence gaps in Gaza one year after Hamas assault

The US has intensified its intelligence-gathering efforts in the Gaza Strip following the surprise attack on Israel on October 7, yet significant gaps persist in the critical intelligence needed to find a path toward ending the conflict.

One year after the attack, US intelligence agencies are still struggling to grasp Hamas's internal political dynamics, its willingness to accept a cease-fire, and its long-term goals for Gaza—key questions policymakers must address to prevent a regional war, Caliber.Az reports via Politico.

For decades, US administrations chose not to prioritize intelligence collection and analysis on Gaza and Hamas. Despite the improvements, one year isn’t enough time to make up for that, according to current and former intelligence officials.

And since the October 7 attack, the Biden administration has continued to prioritize intelligence gathering on other foreign crises, including the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the war in Ukraine and threats from China, officials and lawmakers briefed on the subject said.

“The intelligence community is vast, but so are the number of priorities assigned to its staff,” said Norman Roule, former national intelligence manager for Iran and senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project. “

Absent steady policymaker demand, the system moves resources — and demands on our partners — to targets that are perceived to have greater policymaker interest.”

POLITICO spoke to four current and former senior US officials and three lawmakers and congressional staffers for this story. Most were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive intelligence matters.

The large US blind spot in Gaza drew immediate scrutiny in the days following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

In briefings on Capitol Hill, intelligence officials told lawmakers they were stunned by what Hamas was able to pull off. The assault had taken months if not years to plan, they said. And it killed 30 Americans — the deadliest terrorist attack on US citizens since 9/11.

Senior members of Congress pressed for answers: Was the US warned? How could Israel have missed it?

Intelligence officials didn’t have comforting answers for lawmakers: The US had largely relied on Israel for inside information on Gaza — and the Israelis had failed to take seriously some of their own internal warnings. The attack exposed a significant gap in Washington’s intelligence on Gaza and its broader understanding of Hamas, sparking a push to ramp up collection and analysis in the enclave.

Notably, over the last year, American intelligence agencies have done so, deploying drones, satellites and other surveillance tools — such as certain radar devices — to better understand Hamas’ military tactics. All of this has helped Israel locate Hamas’ locations in Gaza.

However, those efforts only partly fill the void of information in the region. And officials and lawmakers say policymakers in Washington, including those in the National Security Council, deemed other conflicts as higher priority in the months following the attack.

The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been treated as particularly urgent because it could set off a regional war that would pull in US forces.

By Aghakazim Guliyev