Israel-Hamas conflict newest: Israel blew up pagers as sabotage ‘about to be exposed’

Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.

It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.

Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.

A former Israel official with knowledge of the operation said the booby-trapped pagers were intended to be used as a surprise opening move in an all-out war with the Iran-backed militia group.

However, in recent days Israeli leaders and its intelligence agencies became concerned Hezbollah had discovered the plot, according to a US official, and decided to pull the trigger on Tuesday.

Washington has claimed it was not given prior warning. “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved,” Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the state department said on Tuesday.

Hezbollah, which described the attack as its “biggest security breach yet”, has warned Israel they should expect retaliation for “its massacre”. Israel has not yet claimed responsibility nor commented on the pager explosions.

Source: telegraph.co.uk