Gaza
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike that has been going on for six days in Gaza City, Gaza on October 12, 2023.
  • A former UK intel chief said Hamas "laid a trap" for Israel. 
  • He said the militant group was provoking Israel to invade Gaza. 
  • An invasion, he warned, would cost many lives and drive radicalization. 

Attacks by the Hamas militant group were likely a ploy to lure Israel into a costly ground invasion of Gaza, the former head of Britain's MI6 spy agency said. 

Alex Younger, who served as the head of the UK's foreign intelligence service from 2014 to 2020, gave his comments in an interview on the BBC's "The Today Podcast."

It came after Hamas fighters stormed into Israel and massacred whole villages — Israel has said more than 1,000 people were killed, including children and the elderly.