Paragliders were used in the Oct 7 massacre against Israel
IDF discovers underground Hamas weapons workshop, destroys in airstrike
Israel Defense Forces said troops discovered an underground workshop that Hamas operated to manufacture weapons, and destroyed it in an airstrike. (Credit: Israel Defense Forces)
JERUSALEM - The Hamas terrorist movement’s use of paragliders as part of its mass murder of nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans, in southern Israel on Oct. 7 was laid out in a methodical plan that Fox News Digital can disclose for the first time.
A Hamas military plan obtained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip reveals the great lengths the Iranian regime-backed terrorist organization Hamas went to deceive the world about its use of the aerial sports device.
The Hamas document, originally in Arabic and translated into English and reviewed by Fox News Digital, shows how the terror group was looking to exploit its wider use. "The sport should be developed so that the paragliders become motorized. Areas where the sport can be exploited from a military aspect: Landing behind enemy lines, as part of a silent infiltration across the border using paragliders," it read.
Israeli soldiers and journalists gather around a damaged powered paraglider used by Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza, south of Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 10, 2023. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
The document continued, "This can be done using silent launch positions. Camouflage of military experiments and training. Reducing costs through the dual use as civilian experiments. Opening the possibility of utilizing civilian activity in other sports that can benefit military activities. Gaining benefits from foreign information obtained through civilian activities."
Terrorists on paragliders swarmed into the Supernova music festival in Kibbutz Re’im and participated in the slaughter of over 300 attendees.
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This image from video provided by South First Responders shows charred and damaged cars along a desert road after an attack by Hamas terrorists at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (South First Responders via AP)
The Hamas document goes onto state, "Vision: Establishing a military and civilian aviation force in service of the liberation project. Problem: The occupation is working to prevent the establishment of this force and is fighting against it with all means. One of the solutions: Expose this pattern and work towards integrating it into society in a way that prevents the enemy from ending it. Create a reality that forces the enemy to accept it in some form."
A suspected Hamas terrorist flying over Gaza as part of the terror group's specialized unit. (Picture obtained by Fox News Digital)
According to the Hamas plan of action, the "steps" necessary to mainstream the paraglider sytem in Gaza involved, "Conduct personal civilian experiments with paragliders, and publish them on social networks and in the global press….Work to attract the attention of adventurous young people to engage in such sports. Establish a special club for this sport in the Strip and encourage a spirit of competition to spread the sport more widely. Create groups and pages on social networks to showcase the beauty and fundamentals of this sport. The Ministry of Youth and Sports must support the sport. The sport should be connected to the global paragliding association, FAI."
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Brigadier General (Res) Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the IDF Gaza Division, told Fox News Digital "The first use of a paraglider was done by a Palestinian terrorist in 1987 in a devastating attack in the north from south Lebanon in Beit Hillel base with 6 soldiers killed and 10 soldiers injured. … We have dealt with this threat for years. It’s not new and definitely Hezbollah has these capabilities. Today we have much more advanced capabilities to detect and destroy this kind of threat."
Avivi is the founder and chairman of the Israel Defense and Security Forum.
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
In July, Israeli fighter jets struck a depot containing paragliders used by Hamas on Oct. 7. The airstrike targeting the paraglider depot in Rafah carried great weight for Israel because the image of Hamas terrorists on paragliders was invoked as a symbol on clothing and posters among pro-Hamas supporters across the world. Neo-Nazis and the Black Lives Matter chapter in Chicago have glorified the Hamas paraglider terror attack. A New York City public school teacher, Mohammad Jehad Ahmad, also displayed the same Hamas paraglider image on his Facebook page.
Emory University reportedly fired Dr. Abeer AbouYabis, an Emory School of Medicine assistant professor and employee at its Winship Cancer Institute, in November for waxing lyrical over Hamas’ aerial attack on Israel.
She wrote "They got walls / we got gliders Glory to all resistance fighters," AbouYabis wrote, apparently referencing the paragliders used by Hamas fighters to ambush an Israeli music festival in the early morning hours of the October 7 terrorist attack. "Palestine is our demand No peace on stolen land / Not another nickel not another dollar / We will pay For Israel slaughter / Not another nickel not another dime / We will pay for Israel crimes."
Fox News' Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at
