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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an explicit warning about a looming Hamas attack more than a week before Oct. 7, 2023, but failed to brief Israel's top security chiefs about it, Haaretz reported, citing an investigation conducted for a new book on the war.
Citing three foreign senior sources, the outlet said UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed called Netanyahu directly from Abu Dhabi about a week and a half before the attack and spoke with him for 45 minutes.
During the call, bin Zayed warned that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel, one that could destabilize the region and undermine the Abraham Accords.
Netanyahu reportedly responded with relative calm, telling bin Zayed he believed Hamas intended to operate in the West Bank and assuring him Israel was prepared for any scenario.
Separately, Haaretz described a parallel warning channel running through intermediaries. Sinwar allegedly told a Fatah official, referred to by the outlet as "Coal Eyes," to relay a message to Israel that he was preparing a major operation, "Convey a message to them that I am preparing the mother of all surprises. A terrifying operation. Something extraordinary." Again, he rolled the word "zilzal," earthquake, on his tongue.
"Please convey to the Israelis what I am saying word for word," Sinwar demanded. That message reached a Palestinian adviser to bin Zayed, who relayed it to the Emirati leader.
The warning reached Israel's Shin Bet security agency on Sept. 15, 2023. Then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar briefed Netanyahu by phone, and officials held a security meeting two days later involving Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Military Intelligence, Mossad and National Security Council representatives.
Shin Bet officials reportedly assessed at the time that Sinwar might be planning to seize Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli researcher who was abducted and held in Iraq at the time, to boost his leverage in a prisoner exchange, rather than anticipating an attack of the scale later carried out.
Netanyahu did not mention the warning calls he had received from bin Zayed to Israel's security establishment throughout the meeting, the outlet reported.
A senior Shin Bet official quoted by the outlet said knowledge of the warning might have changed how the agency interpreted Sinwar's message and possibly altered its overall threat assessment.
The investigation also detailed contacts in the hours after the attack. Haaretz said Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, called Mossad Director David Barnea the evening of Oct. 7, saying Hamas had agreed to release civilian hostages and offering to mediate.
Barnea rejected the offer, telling Thani Israel would not negotiate with Hamas, a response that reportedly left the Qatari leader stunned.
Former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan opened a separate channel with Sinwar's inner circle through his own associates in Gaza, with Hamas officials signaling willingness to free civilian captives without conditions, though the account remains disputed by Qatari officials.
Netanyahu's bureau rejected the entire investigation, calling it an "absolute lie" and stating the prime minister did not speak with the UAE president during the period in question and received no such warning, Haaretz said.
The outlet also reported that Ronen Bar and former IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi both said they had not been informed of a warning delivered by the UAE president. Haaretz said it contacted bin Zayed for comment but received no response.
The investigation forms part of a new Hebrew-language book, "Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment," by Haaretz journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, drawing on dozens of sources in Israel and abroad, including senior officials, recordings, internal documents and correspondence.
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