TEL AVIV, Israel — As Israel marks three years since Hamas launched its surprise Oct. 7 attacks, Israelis are reeling from new revelations in Israeli and U.S. media that the country had been repeatedly warned by its regional allies that Hamas was planning to attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned about a potential Hamas attack, and his security agencies were notified repeatedly, in the weeks and days leading up to Oct. 7, 2023, four people in the Middle East with direct knowledge of the warnings told NPR. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, The New York Times and The Atlantic first reported about the warnings.
Netanyahu has denied he was warned, calling the reports "fake news" and filing a defamation lawsuit last week against Israeli news outlets that published them. He and his defense minister have issued new warnings that Hamas could try to attack or "challenge" Israel on this Oct. 7 memorial day and leading up to national elections later this month. But the Oct. 7, 2023, security failure — as well as Netanyahu's repeated refusal to take responsibility for it — has become a lightning rod in Israel as the prime minister seeks a new term in national elections this month.
"You didn't protect my son," yelled out one bereaved Israeli father whose son was killed in the Hamas-led attack, as the prime minister spoke at a memorial ceremony this week for the victims. One warning came directly from the leader of Hamas in Gaza weeks before Oct. 7, a Palestinian mediator told NPR and other media outlets. Former Palestinian Authority official Sufian Abu Zaida said he helped mediate secret Hamas-Israel talks for more than a year leading up to Oct. 7.
He said Hamas wanted Israel to release Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and offered in exchange to release two living Israeli hostages and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held in Gaza for years. But he said Israel was unwilling to release as many prisoners as Hamas had demanded. On Sept. 14, 2023, Abu Zaida said, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dictated a message for him to deliver to Israel: "By the end of September, we will put cards on the table.
There will be an earthquake in the negotiations, and the Israelis should prepare to empty their prisons." He did not know what kind of earthquake Sinwar meant, but he said he sent the message to an Israeli intelligence official who acknowledged receiving it and to Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian confidant of the leader of the United Arab Emirates. "What happened [on] the 7th of October is needless," Abu Zaida told NPR. Days before the Oct. 7 attacks, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called Netanyahu and told him that Hamas' leader in Gaza was planning a big assault against Israel, according to a person close to Dahlan.
Dahlan was the Palestinian Authority's head of security in Gaza before Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The Emirati leader told Netanyahu in a phone call that lasted more than 40 minutes that a "quake" would hit the region if no progress was achieved regarding a prisoner deal between Hamas and Israel, the person said. The person spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the call.
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