Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive against Israel approximately ten days before the October 7, 2023 attacks, but failed to inform Israel’s security chiefs or act on the information, according to a report by Israeli outlet Haaretz.
The report, based on a new book titled “Kidnapped: 843 Days of Abandonment” by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, draws on interviews with dozens of sources including senior officials in Israel and abroad.
According to the book, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) contacted Netanyahu at the end of September 2023 in a 45-minute phone call to warn him that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel that would destabilise the region and potentially undermine the Abraham Accords.
Netanyahu’s response reportedly left MBZ surprised. The Israeli prime minister was described as dismissive, telling MBZ that Israel had Gaza under control, that any Hamas action was more likely to come from the West Bank, and that Israel was prepared for all scenarios.
According to the book, Sinwar had grown frustrated in mid-2023 over the lack of progress in prisoner release negotiations with Israel and had repeatedly warned a senior Fatah intermediary to relay a message to the Israelis.
“Tell the Israelis if they don’t advance, I’m preparing a huge surprise for them,” Sinwar is quoted as saying. “Tell them to expect an earthquake.” In a separate conversation, he told the same intermediary he was preparing “a formidable operation.”
The Fatah official, who had close ties to an adviser to MBZ, passed the information to his contact. The adviser told Haaretz that the official was “agitated” and that “it was clear to him that the operation Sinwar was talking about could affect the entire Middle East.” Fearing both for his life and the consequences of staying silent, the official chose to pass the warning to MBZ rather than directly to Israeli intelligence.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
The Fatah official and the adviser did eventually relay the warning directly to Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, in mid-September. Israeli security officials held discussions in the days that followed but did not interpret the threat as a planned assault from Gaza, and no final decisions was reached on a course of action.
Netanyhu takes no action
Netanyahu, meanwhile, made no mention of his conversation with MBZ.
On October 1 — just days before the attack — Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar proposed a direct action against Hamas, including the assassination of senior officials. However, Netanyahu made no decision on the suggestions, saying only that he would consider the proposals.
“If we had known about the warnings, there’s a chance it would have given much greater weight to the initial message that reached us from Sinwar,” a senior Shin Bet official told Haaretz. “Perhaps it would have also clarified what was behind his sudden withdrawal from the de-escalation talks in early September.”
Netanyahu’s office has denied the report entirely, calling it “a total lie,” and stated that the prime minister “did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and received no warning from him.”
The October 7 attacks has led to a three year genocidal reprisal campaign by Israel on Gaza, which has killed at least 76,000 Palestinians.
