Reports about Israeli SIM cards being activated by terrorists shortly before the Oct. 7 massacre are causing a stir in Israel, local media reported Tuesday.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the military was forced to comment after Channel 14 on Sunday claimed that some 1,000 SIMs were activated simultaneously.

The activation happened just hours before militants from the Palestinian Hamas movement and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250.

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The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and domestic intelligence service Shin Bet report that 1,000 SIMs were activated simultaneously in the Gaza Strip.

That this happened hours before the attack was false and far from reality, according to the Times report.

They did say that only dozens of SIMs, which were activated in previous events in the past, were activated in Gaza, but these had also been used previously without anything happening, the newspaper continued.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday initially denied that the premier had been aware of the activation of the SIM cards until the Sunday report by Channel 14.

Later on Monday, however, the office clarified that it was the claim about the number of SIM cards activated that he hadn’t been aware of.

Netanyahu was told at the start of the war that the terrorists used dozens of Israeli SIMs; the Times quoted the premier’s office as saying.

Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi earlier this month announced a thorough investigation into the mistakes that made the massacre possible.

Netanyahu has not yet taken responsibility for the political and military failures leading to the attack.