The IDF has frozen leave, reinforced every front and launched a four-division drill simulating a surprise invasion two days before Tuesday’s vote. Hamas, meanwhile, has sent word through the UN that it is ready to carry out another October 7.

Israel’s military is on its highest state of alert as the country heads to the polls on Tuesday. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has frozen leave across the army, rushed reinforcements to every front and ordered senior commanders into operations rooms, while four divisions and the Air Force drill for exactly what Hamas has threatened to do again: a surprise invasion of Israeli communities on several fronts at once. Hamas delivered the threat through a United Nations official, declaring that it is “ready to again carry out an attack such as the October 7 attack.”

High alert on every front

Zamir placed the IDF on its “highest state of alert” ahead of Tuesday’s Knesset election, the Times of Israel reported. Additional forces have been deployed, readiness has been raised in the Air Force and air defense units, and leave has been canceled in military units, Kan News reported. The security establishment fears an escalation and attempts by Iran and terror organizations to launch a surprise attack or carry out terror attacks around the vote.

“Our goal is to thwart every threat and enable democratic elections to take place without external influence,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said during a visit to Gaza last week. Concern centers on a miscalculation that could ignite the Iranian and Hezbollah fronts.

The leave freeze was ordered by Zamir on October 19, following a security assessment covering every front, and took effect on Thursday, October 22, subject to ongoing assessments, Israel Hayom reported. Zamir also ordered senior commanders to increase their presence in operations rooms, headquarters and field units. The Paratroopers Brigade headquarters was assigned to Central Command to serve as a dedicated operational command for Samaria and Binyamin, and an additional brigade headquarters was attached to the Judea and Samaria Division. The IDF has also reinforced Judea and Samaria with an additional regular brigade for the election period.

To keep soldiers voting while confined to base, the IDF has set up at least 850 polling stations at bases and outposts in Israel and abroad. The IDF’s elections officer instructed commanders to make sure every soldier can vote. “As IDF commanders, we bear the responsibility and duty to enable the democratic electoral process to take place,” the officer wrote.

Last week, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel had identified attempts by Iran and its proxies to carry out terror attacks aimed at influencing the results of the election.

Hamas: ‘Ready to again carry out an attack’

The alert comes days after Israeli media revealed an unusually direct Hamas threat. Earlier this month, senior Hamas officials met with the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, Ramiz Alakbarov, at his office in the Strip and asked him to pass a message to Israel. According to a memo excerpted by Channel 13, Hamas said it is “ready to again carry out an attack such as the October 7 attack,” in Israel, in Judea and Samaria, or abroad.

The memo was written by Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy, head of COGAT, the Defense Ministry body that coordinates civilian affairs in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, and sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz. Halevy described it as “an unusual threat message, which hasn’t been previously conveyed in this level of bluntness and directness.”

Hamas told Alakbarov that “IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, the moving of the Yellow Line” were causing the terror group to lose control on the ground. The Yellow Line is the Gaza ceasefire line; Israel now controls more than 60 percent of the Strip. Hamas officials made clear they were unwilling to accept Israel’s advances or the Palestinian Authority’s postponement of its legislative elections, which Mahmoud Abbas pushed from November 28 to September 2027.

Ynet reported that the security cabinet was told Hamas has stepped up its preparations, stockpiling weapons and moving them into civilian areas. Hamas reportedly assumes Israel’s hands are tied on any large-scale operation until after the November 3 U.S. midterm elections. The security establishment is assessing whether Hamas is capable of carrying out the threat given the IDF’s presence in Gaza.

President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza has stalled. Hamas refuses to disarm, and Israel refuses to withdraw from any part of the Strip until it does.

Stepped-up operations in Gaza

The IDF has intensified its operations against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza over the past two weeks, eliminating an average of two to three field commanders and operatives a day, according to a security source quoted by Walla and the Jerusalem Post. Some of them were reportedly on their way to attack IDF forces.

“We are seeing Hamas take an interest in the Israeli elections and how they will affect the ‘day after,'” the source said. “There is no concrete intelligence regarding any particular operation, but we are not taking any chances.” The source added that “Hamas is also continuing its efforts to rebuild its military wing.”

Southern Command, the Air Force, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet are preparing for rocket fire, attacks on IDF positions along the Yellow Line, and infiltration attempts against outposts on the Yellow Line and along the Hourglass Fence on the international border. Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen, head of the IDF Operations Directorate, ordered reinforcements on land, at sea and in the air, including special forces units held as rapid-response reserves, with the stated aim of preventing a surprise attack like the October 7 massacre.

Security officials acknowledged that intelligence coverage of Gaza remains incomplete. The IDF has identified terrain where surveillance is limited and is setting additional ambushes and defensive measures in those areas. Defense Minister Katz has ordered security forces to expand intelligence gathering ahead of the vote.

Drilling for a multi-front invasion

A large-scale exercise began Sunday and runs through Monday in northern and central Israel. It involves the Air Force and four divisions: the Northern Command’s 210th Division, the Judea and Samaria Division, the 98th Division and the Central Command’s 96th Division. The drill simulates a surprise attack on several fronts at once, including infiltration by land and by air, the defense of communities, and a rapid shift from defense to offense.

The IDF said troops would practice “a variety of scenarios, including a surprise attack and infiltration into Israeli territory by air and land,” applying the lessons of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre. The goal, according to the army, is to “maintain the forces’ alertness and readiness, strengthen the ability to defend communities.” Residents of the north and center were told to expect a heavy presence of security forces and aircraft.

The IDF said the drill was planned in advance as part of its annual training schedule, is not a response to a specific intelligence warning, and does not reflect fear of a security incident.

The Hebron operation

In Judea, the IDF and Shin Bet are pressing ahead with a large-scale operation in Hebron following Friday’s attack at Yehuda Junction, in which Palestinian terrorists killed two soldiers from the Home Front Command’s Ari Battalion, Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, of Ashkelon, and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, of Hod Hasharon. Three other soldiers were wounded.

Forces from the Duvdevan and Maglan commando units, paratroopers, reservists from the Givati Reconnaissance Unit and the Judea and Samaria Border Police have searched about 200 sites in and around Hebron and arrested ten suspects. The operation centers on the area of the Ja’aba clan, numbering about 2,000 people, which the IDF assesses is affiliated with Hamas. Both terrorists were members of the clan. Investigators are examining whether they received outside help.

Defense Minister Katz said residents of the terrorists’ neighborhood had been evacuated and would not be allowed to return “until we’ve finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron.”

The army has also ordered that, from Sunday, Palestinians will not be permitted to enter Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley for work, and all land crossings will be closed on election day.

‘Don’t test us’

Prime Minister Netanyahu has issued two warnings to Israel’s enemies from Air Force bases in the past month. On September 29, standing in front of an F-15 at Tel Nof, he said, “There are signs that leading up to the elections, our enemies will try to attack us. Don’t mess with us. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, and at any time.”

On October 19, he followed with a second video. “We have the readiness, determination and capability to strike our enemies the moment it becomes necessary,” Netanyahu said. “I say to our enemies: Don’t test us. You will suffer blows more severe than anything you have suffered until now.”

Netanyahu convened a security meeting with senior defense officials on the night of October 15 to review the threat from Iran and potential efforts to disrupt the election, and spoke by phone with Secretary of State Rubio, i24News reported. According to i24News sources, Israel is preparing for possible assassination attempts, terror attacks and foreign interference during the election period.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth of Likud held a special security session on October 19. “Israel’s enemies will attempt to attack on Election Day,” Bismuth wrote afterward. “A map of security threats and alerts across all arenas was presented to us, as well as attempts at foreign interference. The security apparatus is at peak readiness to thwart any attempt to harm public safety and the conduct of the elections. We are prepared.”

Opposition leaders have accused Netanyahu of using the threats in his campaign. “Israel’s security and IDF bases are not mere backdrops for election campaign videos,” said Yair Lapid. Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered the September video removed from Netanyahu’s personal social media accounts, ruling that it contained “elements of election propaganda.” After the September warning, security officials said they had no specific intelligence indicating a particular planned attack.

A threat that reaches beyond Israel

The Israeli alert comes as Washington faces its own warnings. In a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that “the lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.” The State Department has reduced staff at embassies across the region.

Three years after Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and dragged 251 hostages into Gaza, the terror group is openly promising to do it again, and the IDF is preparing for the possibility that it will try.

This is a developing story.