Website 'Decision Hours' recreates October 6-7 night as WhatsApp group dramatization

A civilian initiative created the website 'Decision Hours,' which recreates in a theatrical dramatization, minute by minute in WhatsApp group format, the night of the security establishment between October 6-7. According to the timeline displayed on the site, 8 hours and 51 minutes passed from the identification of dozens of Israeli SIM cards activated in Gaza around 10 p.m. until a message from the Nova party at 6:51 a.m.

On the site oct7th.net, 5,093 messages are displayed, each with a source, from the security establishment, Nova victims and those trapped in homes. The site defines the security establishment messages as theatrical: they were written in first person based on a public source and are not direct quotes. The same applies to messages attributed to Yaron Finkelman, the then-commander of the Southern Command, and Herzi Halevi, the then-IDF chief of staff, alongside some recordings of Halevi marked as retrospective evidence.

Around 10 p.m., according to the timeline on the site and a report by Hatzometh that it cites, Shin Bet identified dozens of Israeli SIM cards activated on Gaza phones. According to the report, Shin Bet personnel interpreted this as weak signals. The site's timeline begins at 9 p.m. with the activation of Israeli signals in the Strip, and the site notes that different sources cite different times between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Around 1 a.m. the site displays communications intercepted by Unit 8200, in which, according to Hatzometh, a Hamas operative tells his colleague 'Tonight we will conquer the Erez crossing.' According to the report, Unit 8200 personnel reported on the communications, in which the operatives told each other that this was only an exercise. At 1:33 a.m. the site marks the decision to send a combined Shin Bet and Yamam force south, and at 3:03 a.m. Shin Bet distributed warning information to the IDF, police and Civil Administration, as it appears in the public Shin Bet report.

Most of the messages in the group are displayed as they were sent and posted that day, including the message from Nova at 6:51 a.m.: 'Mom, they're shooting here. We were at a party, running home.' According to ynet, it was sent by Racheli, 25, to her mother Polina Dab; Racheli was shot while fleeing the party and died from her wounds. The site's timeline itself marks 6:29 a.m., 22 minutes earlier, as the time the attack began.