Netanyahu Dismissed Pre-Oct. 7 Hamas Warning, Never Told Top Security Officials

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly received an explicit warning that Hamas was preparing a major attack roughly 10 days before the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre but failed to share with top security officials, a bombshell investigation published Tuesday found.

United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed personally warned Netanyahu during a 45-minute phone call that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel, Haaretz reported, citing three senior foreign sources familiar with the conversation. Netanyahu’s office categorically denied the allegation, saying the prime minister never had the reported conversation or received such a warning, according to the outlet.

“If a sufficiently clear warning had led Israel to reinforce the border before October 7, I believe it is entirely plausible that the scale of the disaster would have been significantly reduced,” Amos Nadan, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Whether the attack itself could have been prevented is much harder to establish.”

The Israeli Embassy in Washington, the UAE Embassy in Washington and Israel Defense Forces did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,650 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and abducted another 251 during the Oct. 7 attack, according to the outlet.

Bin Zayed allegedly warned Netanyahu that Sinwar’s planned operation could lead to significant bloodshed, destabilize the Middle East and undermine the Abraham Accords, Haaretz reported, citing an adviser to the Emirati president. Netanyahu reportedly responded calmly, telling bin Zayed that Hamas was more likely preparing to act in the West Bank and assuring him Israel was prepared for any scenario.

The warning apparently originated with Sinwar himself, who had been involved in indirect negotiations with Israel over a potential arrangement in Gaza before relations deteriorated in September 2023, according to Haaretz. Sinwar allegedly told a Fatah intermediary to warn Israel that he was preparing a massive surprise and an “earthquake” if progress was not made.

“If there had been a clear warning serious enough to trigger a fundamental reassessment by Israel’s political and security leadership, the most immediate consequence would probably have been a substantial reinforcement of Israeli forces along the borders, particularly around Gaza,” Nadan told the DCNF.

The intermediary and a bin Zayed adviser ultimately passed Sinwar’s warning to Israel’s Shin Bet security service on Sept. 15, prompting then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to immediately brief Netanyahu, Haaretz reported. Israeli security officials subsequently met Sept. 17 to assess the warning but did not conclude that Hamas was preparing a massive assault from Gaza.

Bar reportedly warned during the discussions that Israel was on a “collision course” and recommended either significant offensive action or stronger defensive preparations in Gaza and the West Bank ahead of the Jewish holidays, according to Haaretz. No operational decision was made at the meeting.

Bin Zayed then contacted Netanyahu directly after concluding Israel was not adequately responding to the warning, Haaretz reported. Former Shin Bet chief Bar and former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi both said they were never informed of the Emirati president’s warning to Netanyahu.

Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel separately warned Netanyahu around the same period of an unusual and potentially devastating Hamas operation, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing the Haaretz investigation. Netanyahu reportedly responded that Israel had the situation in Gaza under control and was concentrating forces on the West Bank.

An Emirati source familiar with the conversation later independently confirmed that bin Zayed warned Netanyahu by phone that Hamas was planning a major attack, The Times of Israel reported Tuesday.

The Prime Minister’s Office called the original investigation an “absolute lie” and said Netanyahu neither spoke with bin Zayed during the period in question nor received a warning from him, according to Haaretz.