US launches probe into leaked documents showing Israel plan to attack Iran – The Week

The United States has launched an official investigation into what could be one of the biggest intelligence security lapses in the Western world, following the leak of documents showing plans for Israel’s retaliatory strike against iran A US official told The Associated Press that the documents appeared legitimate, while three other officials confirmed the US investigation into the leak.

The documents, marked top secret, first appeared on Telegram. The investigation aims to find out whether this was a security hack or a deliberate insider leak. Members of the investigation are determining who all had access to the leaked documents, the official told the AP.

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The documents, marked top secret and attributed to the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), showed Israel moving in preparation for a military strike in response to Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack.

This comes after the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the US warned Israel that it would halt further military expansion into Lebanon to prevent a larger regional war. The Pentagon acknowledged the reports of the leak in a statement, but had no further comment.

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The documents first appeared via a Telegram channel on Friday and resembled information gathered through analysis of satellite images. Of the two documents, one closely resembled classified NGA military documents in appearance, previously leaked by Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira.

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Hamas is “still alive” despite the death of the group’s head Yahya Sinwar. This was the same day that Israel dropped leaflets over southern Gaza with the message: “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza.”

Residents of Khan Younis relayed that the leaflet also demanded the handover of the hostages. Those who comply “will be allowed to leave and live in peace,” the leaflet read. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, in response said the hostages would not be released until the “aggression” in Gaza ends.

On Saturday morning, a drone was launched at Benjamin Netanyahu’s vacation home in Israel when the prime minister and his wife were not at home. No victims were reported in the attack. Israel later attacked Gaza and Beirut, killing more than 100 people. Around 73 were killed in Gaza, according to figures released by the Hamas media office.