An April 2024 Hamas engineering document released by the IDF describes a proposed plan to use explosives near displacement camps and create panic to help Hamas leaders and fighters escape advancing Israeli forces.

By Hezy Laing

A document dated April 2024 and released by the IDF on October 19, 2026, describes a Hamas engineering plan to use explosives and panic among displaced Palestinians to protect its own operatives.

According to the IDF, Hamas’s engineering department proposed planting explosive devices around camps housing displaced civilians and detonating them as Israeli forces approached. The stated objective was to create confusion that would allow Hamas leaders and fighters to escape.

The document outlined three measures: explosives around displacement camps, explosive devices along routes used by Gaza residents, and stun grenades fired into the camps to trigger panic.

Rather than simply slowing down Israeli troops, the proposed tactics were intended to exploit the confusion surrounding crowded civilian areas to provide Hamas operatives with an opportunity to flee.

Using civilian areas to protect Hamas fighters

The reported plan raises serious questions about Hamas’s willingness to expose Gaza’s civilian population to danger in order to protect its military personnel.

Displacement camps are crowded places where families have gathered seeking shelter from the fighting. An explosion nearby could injure people with no involvement in the conflict, while sudden panic could make it easier for armed operatives to escape.

The proposed use of explosives along civilian routes would create an additional danger for people attempting to move between areas. Families already facing difficult conditions could find themselves exposed to further risks simply by using routes that Hamas allegedly intended to turn into part of its military strategy.

The document also proposed firing stun grenades into the camps. These devices are designed to produce an intense flash and loud noise, potentially disorienting people and creating confusion.

Earlier documents raised similar questions

The latest disclosure follows earlier Israeli reports about captured Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad documents concerning failed rocket launches and efforts to control the public narrative surrounding civilian casualties.

In March 2024, The Jerusalem Post reported on documents that the IDF said it had recovered in Gaza, describing efforts to manage information about failed rocket launches and resulting civilian casualties.

In a separate October 2024 disclosure, the IDF published what it described as documents showing that Hamas had instructed Al Jazeera on how to cover a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launch in Jabaliya in 2022. According to the military, the instructions included limiting images of the incident and avoiding descriptions that could portray it as a massacre.

These were separate incidents involving different documents, but they provide additional context for understanding the Israeli military’s concerns about Hamas’s treatment of civilian safety and its efforts to shape public perceptions of the war.

What the document reveals

The April 2024 document provides a disturbing account of the tactics Hamas’s engineering department reportedly considered to protect its personnel during Israeli military operations. Its most troubling element is the proposed use of explosives and panic around civilian displacement camps to facilitate the escape of Hamas oper