site.btaFormer Israeli Ambassador to Bulgaria: Hamas Did Everything Possible to Lull Israel Before Its Attack

Former Israeli ambassador to Bulgaria David Cohen told BTA there had been talks between Israel and Hamas last week in which Israeli authorities agreed to increase the number of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip going to work in Israel and the Islamist movement pledged to refrain from violence. From Monday's vantage point, Cohen says, it is clear that Hamas's tactic was to "lull" the Israelis to sleep with these negotiations. "The thinking here was that if we gave more nice terms to Gaza, we would have peace," but that was a trick, he said.

He found it "inexplicable" that Israeli intelligence appeared unprepared for the attack that the radical Islamist group Hamas launched against Israel late last week. Israel's intelligence was not good enough and so the Hamas attack was a surprise, the diplomat said. He made the caveat that he has been retired for eight years and is not in the Israeli Foreign Ministry system.

According to Cohen, the Palestinian fighters have made good preparations, they have used technical means so that the Israeli border guards cannot see in advance the infiltration of "hundreds of terrorists" across the border.

“I don't think Israel has any intention of taking over and completely controlling the Gaza Strip, but we will do everything we can to prevent a repeat of what happened now,” Cohen said. He warned that it was dangerous for other countries to take sides in the Gaza conflict because it would "make the situation more complicated." Cohen said a warning had been issued to the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iran not to take any initiatives. "The Iranians are the ones giving the green light to both Hamas and Hezbollah. They support them and supply them with weapons," the former ambassador added.

David Cohen was Ambassador of Israel to Bulgaria from 1996 to 2000. At the end of his term of office he received the Order of Stara Planina, first class for his extraordinary services to the strengthening and development of the Bulgarian-Israeli relations.

Since Saturday, Hamas militants have killed more than 700 Israelis, wounded 2,400 and taken more than 100 hostages, according to the latest Reuters figures. It is the deadliest attack on Israeli soil since the Yom Kippur War broke out exactly 50 years ago. Israel responded with air strikes against the Palestinian enclave, killing 558 people and wounding more than 2,800, DPA reported, citing information from the health ministry there.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the European Union and the United States.