⚡️🇪🇬🇮🇱🇵🇸 — Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel reportedly called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early October 2023 to warn of an impending attack from the Gaza Strip, after Israel had failed to respond to two earlier Egyptian warnings, according to Arab government officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.

➡️ Egypt’s first warning, delivered in June, described the situation in Gaza as «volatile» and urged Israel to return to negotiations with Hamas. In September, Kamel reportedly traveled to Israel and warned that the situation was «dire» and «could blow up in everyone’s faces», but Israeli officials told him they had the situation under control. One Arab official said Egyptian warnings continued until 48 hours before the October 7 attack, with Kamel’s call to Netanyahu reportedly taking place days before the assault.

➡️ The reporting follows earlier accounts by The Atlantic and The New York Times. The Atlantic reported that Kamel had secretly landed at Ben Gurion Airport 11 days before the attack and remained in Israel for 67 minutes, warning that Hamas was preparing for a major attack and urging Israel to «introduce economic measures to prevent an escalation».

The New York Times had separately reported that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major attack and later mentioned the conversation to the CIA director, while Netanyahu denied that it had taken place; according to the report, he did not raise the warning at an October 1 security meeting, where he opposed a proposal to strike senior Hamas officials.

➡️ The Arab officials also said Emirati authorities were increasingly concerned about Hamas, with Egyptian and Emirati officials exchanging intelligence assessments and sharing them with the United States. According to the officials, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s tone and the nature of his threats had changed, while Arab intelligence services detected frequent meetings between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. They stressed that the warnings did not include specific details on the potential attack’s timing or scale.

➡️ Netanyahu’s office did not respond to questions about Kamel’s call and had previously denied that the Israeli leader and Kamel had spoken in the months before October 7. The Egyptian and Emirati foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

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