Published a year before the Hamas Oct 7 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s autobiography lays out a scenario that bears a chilling similarity to the events of Israel’s deadliest day, Reuters reports.

“Hamas intended to surprise Israel by initiating the simultaneous penetration of hundreds of terrorists into the country,” he wrote of a decade-old plan that prompted Israeli forces to enter into a conflict in Gaza in 2014 to avert such an assault.

“They planned to enter kindergartens and schools, murder Israelis, and whisk dozens of hostages to Gaza back through the tunnels. This could spell disaster.” But on Oct. 7 last year, Hamas fighters executed their plot in a rampage in southern Israel, with one difference: hostages weren’t taken into Gaza through tunnels but across a breached border fence.

A poll published by the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute on Jan. 2 showed only 15 per cent of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain in office after the conflict with Hamas ends, in line with previous surveys that have shown his popularity sharply down.

But the embattled leader, who for years has brandished a Mr Security image, shows no sign of wanting to leave.

“He’s defiant. He’s apparently taken a strategic decision to survive politically even this. I think it’s a quixotic aim and sooner or later I believe that his own colleagues will tell him that his time is up,” said political analyst Amotz Asa-El.

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