Study Reveals Religious Motives Drove Hamas October 7 Attack on Israel
A new study reveals that religious ideology and antisemitic rulings played a decisive role in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, overshadowing purely rational political calculations.
A newly published study by the Amit Institute for Terrorism and Intelligence Research reveals that religious motives played a decisive role in Hamas's decision to launch the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel. Authored by Dr. Uri Rost, the research is based on captured documents recovered in the Gaza Strip and statements made by senior Hamas figures before and during the onslaught.
According to the findings, the 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip allowed Hamas to systematically indoctrinate successive generations through formal education, summer camps combining religious study with weapons training, and military wing preparations. While leaders like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif also weighed strategic and political calculations—such as disrupting normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and freeing Palestinian prisoners—religious dogma was paramount.
The Theological Framing of Terror
The study highlights how Hamas utilized Quranic verses and Hadith traditions to frame the campaign as a holy war for Al-Aqsa Mosque. The invasion plan, originally dubbed "Jericho Wall," invoked the Quranic concept of the "second promise," interpreted by Hamas as a divine decree foretelling the end of the Jewish presence in the land. Elite Nukhba forces carried religious briefing kits containing Korans and texts promoting jihad and martyrdom.
"The massacres and atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists in the communities and IDF bases in the Gaza envelope and the western Negev were an implementation of Hamas's antisemitic perceptions and religious rulings that made no distinction between Israeli civilians and uniformed personnel," the researchers noted.
Intelligence Failures and Mirror-Imaging
The study concludes that Western intelligence agencies often struggle to comprehend the worldview of radical organizations due to a lack of specialists in language, culture, and radical religious thought. Analysts frequently fall into the "mirror-imaging trap," projecting their own rational frameworks onto adversaries whose belief in divine victory overrides conventional strategic deterrence.
