Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel personally warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the possibility of an impending Hamas attack from Gaza days before the October 7, 2023 massacre, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing officials in an Arab government.
According to the report, Egypt had previously conveyed two warnings to Israel about signs of an approaching attack that were not acted upon. Kamel’s reported call to Netanyahu constituted a third alert and had not previously been made public.
The report also said Netanyahu received a separate warning from United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed in September 2023 regarding indications that Hamas was preparing an attack. The warnings did not specify when an attack might occur or indicate its expected scale.
Netanyahu’s office did not respond to the Journal’s questions and has previously denied that the prime minister spoke with Kamel in the months before October 7. Egypt and the UAE also did not respond to requests for comment.
The Journal’s report follows a New York Times report from Friday stating that bin Zayed secretly warned Netanyahu shortly before October 7 that Hamas was considering a major attack, although five former senior Israeli officials told the Times the warning did not reach Israel’s security leadership. Netanyahu’s office and the Emirati Foreign Ministry did not respond to the Times.
Separately, The Atlantic reported Friday that Kamel traveled to Israel on September 26, 2023, 11 days before the Hamas attack. A private aircraft linked to Egyptian intelligence landed at Ben Gurion Airport and remained there for 67 minutes, according to Israeli Airports Authority records and independent flight-tracking data cited by the magazine.
The Atlantic said its investigation, based on Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, American and European officials, found that Kamel came to deliver an urgent warning about preparations in Gaza for a major attack.
According to officials cited by The Atlantic, Kamel warned that Gaza was heading toward a dangerous escalation and that the window to prevent a disaster was rapidly closing. One former Israeli official summarized the message as: “If you don’t change course, Gaza is going to explode in your face."
The warning reportedly did not include a date, details of the planned operation or intended targets. Instead, Kamel urged Israel to consider economic measures toward Hamas and Gaza in an effort to prevent further escalation.