Netanyahu was warned of 7 October Hamas attacks, book claims

Israeli PM says allegation that UAE president alerted him more than a week before major offensive is ‘absolute lie’

Benjamin Netanyahu was personally alerted by the president of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a large-scale offensive against Israel a week before its 7 October 2023 attack, but did not act on the warning, according to a book by Haaretz reporters.

The claim, which comes amid a crucial election campaign, prompted Israeli opposition leaders to describe the prime minister as “unfit” for office, even as Netanyahu denounced the report as an “absolute lie” and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.

Haaretz said the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, later killed by Israel, had warned a former Palestinian official that the militants were preparing “a terrifying operation” which he described as an “earthquake”.

According to the report, the UAE president, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, spoke to Netanyahu a week and a half before the attack, and told him Hamas was planning a major operation.

The allegations, published in Haaretz on Tuesday, pile more pressure on the Israeli prime minister who has already faced heavy criticism for his handling of events before the 7 October attacks.

Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people and took another 251 people hostage during the offensive. Hundreds of Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in continued fighting from consequent wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.

The claims are contained in the book Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment, which, its authors say, is based on dozens of sources in Israel and worldwide, including very senior officials.

According to Haaretz, bin Zayed communicated frequently with senior Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu and the Israeli president Isaac Herzog, with a UAE diplomat delivering a secure phone to the Israeli prime minister for the conversations.

A week and a half before 7 October, the reporters say, bin Zayed called Netanyahu from the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi and, in a 45-minute call, warned that Sinwar was planning a major operation which the Emirati leader was concerned could destabilise the region.

To bin Zayed’s surprise, Netanyahu reacted calmly to the news, the report said.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, several Israeli opposition party leaders declared their intention to find out what Netanyahu knew and when, and what actions he took, if any.

“Why did he not inform the security establishment, and why did he not act to protect Israeli citizens?” the statement demanded.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former military commander who has emerged as Netanyahu’s main rival in the October elections, accused the long-serving prime minister of evading responsibility for security lapses and resorting to “pathetic” excuses, such as saying he was not woken up soon enough on the morning of the attack.

“Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for 7 October and ignored them all. He is unfit,” Eisenkot wrote on X.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister also running in the elections, said Netanyahu “bears personal and direct responsibility” for the deaths on 7 October, the deadliest attack in Israeli history. “Netanyahu cannot continue to serve in his position for even one more minute,” Bennett said.

The leader of the centre-left Democrats party, Yair Golan, accused Netanyahu of “endangering Israel”.

“The stories about ‘no one woke me up’ are over. You knew, you ignored, you failed, you are to blame,” he said, in a video posted on social media.

Many Israelis have demanded an independent state commission of inquiry into the security lapses that failed to prevent Hamas’s attack.

Opposition parties say establishing such a commission, whose members would be appointed by the supreme court, would be their first priority if elected. Netanyahu’s government has rejected the proposal.