A explosive new report claims Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a direct, personal warning that Hamas was preparing a massive attack roughly 10 days before the October 7 massacre unfolded — but allegedly failed to alert his own security chiefs.
The bombshell claims come from research conducted for an upcoming book titled “Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment,” authored by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, the latter of whom writes for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which first reported the findings.
According to the report, United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally raised the alarm with Netanyahu during a 45-minute phone conversation. Three senior foreign sources familiar with the call told Haaretz that the Emirati leader warned Netanyahu that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation.
Netanyahu reportedly brushed off the warning, telling the Emirati leader he believed any Hamas activity would be confined to the West Bank and assuring him Israel was prepared for any scenario. Crucially, the report claims that warning never made its way to Israel’s top security officials. Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi both told Haaretz they were never briefed on the call.
The report states the Emirati leader got involved after mounting concern in the UAE over intelligence traced back to a Palestinian intermediary in contact with both Hamas and Israeli security officials. That intermediary reportedly relayed a warning from Sinwar as early as September 2023 that he was preparing what he called an “earthquake,” later describing it as “the mother of all surprises” and a “terrifying operation.”
That intelligence reportedly reached Israel’s Shin Bet by mid-September, and Bar is said to have briefed Netanyahu directly, warning just two days later that Israel was on a “collision course” and urging either offensive action or bolstered defenses along the Gaza and West Bank borders.
Separately, Haaretz reports that Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, also contacted Netanyahu around the same time with a similar warning about an unusual and terrifying operation being planned. Netanyahu again dismissed the concern, insisting Israel had the situation under control, and reportedly never mentioned either warning during an October 1 security meeting focused on Hamas and Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office has forcefully denied the report. A spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post the claim was “an absolute lie,” insisting the prime minister never spoke with the UAE president during that period and received no such warning.
However, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett backed the report’s central claims Tuesday, telling Tel Aviv radio station 103FM that he knew “for a fact” the report was accurate, citing both the Emirati and Egyptian warnings as real.
The revelations, if confirmed, would add another troubling layer to the ongoing reckoning over Israel’s intelligence failures ahead of the deadliest attack in the nation’s history.
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