Jerusalem, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was directly warned about a possible major Hamas attack roughly 10 days before the Oct. 7, 2023 assault, according to a new Haaretz investigation that his office strongly denies.
The report says United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called Netanyahu for about 45 minutes after receiving intelligence that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation. Netanyahu allegedly responded that Israel was prepared and suggested any attack was more likely to come from the West Bank.
According to Haaretz, the warning was not shared with then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar or then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi. The paper also reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel separately warned Netanyahu about an unusual Hamas operation.
Netanyahu’s office rejected the central claim, calling it “an absolute lie” and saying he did not speak with the UAE president during the period in question. The UAE Foreign Ministry has not publicly confirmed the reported warning.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, now a political rival of Netanyahu, said Tuesday that he knew the report to be true and also cited warnings from Egyptian and Israeli security officials.
The allegations are based partly on reporting for an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval and arrive as renewed scrutiny focuses on what Israeli leaders knew before the Oct. 7 attack.
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