Reports allege Netanyahu received warnings before Hamas attack

Several media reports and accounts have alleged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warnings about a major Hamas operation before the 7 October 2023 attack.

Netanyahu has denied receiving advance notice, describing the allegations as “an absolute lie”. The claims have also prompted Israeli opposition leaders to describe him as “unfit” for office and renew demands for an official inquiry into the events surrounding the attack.

Reports describe alleged warnings

The New York Times confirmed information previously reported by Haaretz that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed secretly alerted Netanyahu to an impending Hamas offensive, according to the accounts cited in the reports.

The reports further alleged that Netanyahu did not pass the warning on to Israeli security officials. The claims were included in the book Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment, written by Haaretz journalists, who said the work was based on dozens of sources.

The material presents the alleged warning as a reported account rather than an independently established fact. The exact date of the alleged communication was not provided.

Other warnings cited

The Atlantic separately reported that Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s intelligence chief, secretly visited Israel 11 days before the attack and warned of a significant Hamas offensive.

Former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant also said that Yahya Sinwar, then Hamas’s leader, had warned Israel before the attacks that he would “shake the prisons”. Gallant said the alleged message was sent to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency through a former senior Fatah official.

Gallant’s account does not independently establish whether Sinwar personally authorised or sent the message. The source of the report also did not provide responses from Mohammed bin Zayed, Kamel, Haaretz, The New York Times or The Atlantic beyond the accounts described.

Netanyahu rejects inquiry calls

Netanyahu rejected the reports that he had been alerted about an impending attack in advance. The dispute emerged during a crucial Israeli parliamentary election campaign, with less than a month remaining before voting at the time described in the reports.

Israeli opposition leaders called for an official government inquiry into the events surrounding 7 October. Netanyahu had so far rejected those calls.

The available accounts do not establish whether an official government inquiry was later created. They also leave unresolved the precise timing and handling of the alleged warnings.