Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was working to transfer arms worth almost $50 million to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces revealed on Saturday night.
An IDF operation in the Gaza tunnel where Hamas “military” leader Mohammed Sinwar was killed in a May 13 airstrike uncovered files showing that the IRGC’s Saeed Izadi worked to facilitate weapons transfers to the Palestinian terrorist group in recent months, the army said.
Izadi, commander of the “Palestine Corps” in the IRGC’s Quds Force and the liaison between Tehran and Hamas, was killed in an overnight strike on Friday, according to the military.
Izadi, identified as one of the chief architects of the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, is thought to have been among the few individuals outside of Hamas leadership who had advance knowledge of the cross-border terrorist assault. According to the IDF, he was a key liaison between the Iranian regime and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Friday’s airstrike targeted a hideout in the area of Qom, central Iran, where Izadi was believed to be operating. He was responsible for significantly increasing Iranian financial support to Hamas and maintained direct ties with Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
Documents revealed by the IDF on Sunday showed correspondence between Sinwar and Izadi, detailing the Islamic Republic’s “Tufan 1” project, under which it attempted to transfer weapons valued at $21 million to Hamas, and Tehran’s “Tufan 2” plan, worth some $25 million.
The files “are some of many that have been located during the war that attest to Izadi’s activities in financing and arming the Hamas terrorist organization to support terrorism against the State of Israel,” the army stated.
Due to “intensive efforts” of the IDF’s Southern Command and Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the two projects to resupply Hamas “did not come to fruition,” the military added.
“The IDF will continue to act against any attempt by the Iranian regime to arm and fund the terrorist organizations that threaten the State of Israel and its civilians. The elimination of Izadi constitutes a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s weapons supply and terror financing network,” the Israeli army said on Sunday.
Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and Qatar
Documents seized by IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip during the war reveal far-reaching coordination between Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and Qatar in the years leading up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, shattering the perception that Hamas planned the assault alone.
Intelligence obtained from letters, conversations and meetings in Beirut and Tehran shows that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political chief based in Qatar, maintained continuous contact with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a detailed report by Israel’s Channel 12 News published in late April.
Already in 2021, following the IDF’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls,” Sinwar began formulating an attack plan, with Iranian and Hezbollah backing, the documents show. Hamas requested $500 million from Tehran over two years to fund its preparations for the terrorist invasion.
Nasrallah endorsed the goal of Israel’s destruction, while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was said to have approved Hamas launching the attack without Hezbollah’s full participation.
As many as 500 terrorists affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, based in the Gaza Strip, trained in the Islamic Republic leading up to the Oct. 7 assault, The Wall Street Journal reported in late 2023.
Tehran hailed the attacks as a “success,” saying the murder of some 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, was a response to the 2020 targeted killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad by the United States.