Hamas intends to use chemical weapons, Israel says after finding cyanide device instructions: Report

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reportedly sent a classified message to dozens of Israeli embassies across the world, warning them of Hamas' intention to deploy chemical weapons after the Israeli military found a USB key with instructions for producing a "cyanide dispersion device" on the body of a Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel during the Oct. 7 terror attack. 

It is unclear whether Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip, had attempted to produce the chemical weapons or had any serious plans to deploy them, Axios reported Saturday. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry's weapons of mass destruction agency sent the classified memo to dozens of Israeli embassies, including the one in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, with the headline: "Hamas intention of using chemical weapons."

The file could not be independently authenticated, but Israeli officials have said before that they will not give information to allies if they do not believe it is reliable. 

The document was traced to a 2003 Al-Qaeda manual, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in the memo.

"This finding points to an intention by Hamas to use chemical weapons as part of its terror attack against civilians," the message states.

The Foreign Ministry had sent the original file with a description in English to its embassies and asked for them to privately tell their host governments and not publicly use it. 

The ministry also told diplomats to inform their counterparts that Hamas wants "to conduct attacks in a similar way that ISIS tried to do."

The bodies of around 1,500 Hamas terrorists have been discovered in Israel after they invaded on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people, including 31 U.S. citizens as well as women, children and the elderly in the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Many of the bodies show signs of brutal torture, rape and abuse. Over 200 people were taken hostage and brought to Gaza, only two of whom have been released.

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