A bombshell investigation tied to a forthcoming investigative book has pulled back the curtain on a previously undisclosed warning that the United Arab Emirates president delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weeks before the devastating October 7 Hamas attacks — a alert that Netanyahu reportedly dismissed and hid from his nation’s top security and military command. The findings were first published Tuesday by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, drawing from three senior international sources with direct knowledge of the 45-minute confidential phone call that took place between the two leaders in late September 2023. According to a Gaza-born advisor to UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, bin Zayed made clear in the call that his intelligence assessment pointed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar preparing a large-scale, high-impact operation against Israel. The UAE president urged Netanyahu to put Israeli security forces on high alert, while also advising that Israel pursue an economic relief plan for the Gaza Strip and de-escalate tensions in the West Bank to head off the coming crisis. This warning was rooted in direct threats Sinwar issued through a Palestinian Fatah intermediary, later identified by Middle East Eye sources as Sufyan Abu Zayda, a veteran Fatah leader born in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp and a former Palestinian Authority cabinet minister. Sinwar explicitly told Abu Zayda, who is known to Israeli intelligence under the alias “black eyes”, that Israel would face an unprecedented “earthquake” if no progress was made toward a negotiated deal. The investigation also reveals that this exchange was not the first unheeded warning: prior international and Israeli media reports have already confirmed that Egyptian intelligence also issued an urgent alert to Netanyahu just days before the attacks, with then-Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel warning of “something unusual, a terrifying operation” in the works. In both cases, Netanyahu downplayed the threat, telling both leaders that Hamas’ actual target was the West Bank, not Gaza, and that Israeli forces already had full control of the situation in Gaza. Following the October 7 attacks, the investigation uncovered another staggering detail: Hamas offered to release all civilian captives it had seized immediately after the assault, with no concessions demanded in return. The offer was rejected outright by Israeli officials, the report claims. The investigation also shines new light on secret, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas that took place in early 2023, focused on a gradual deal that would end the years-long blockade of Gaza, expand economic access for Gaza residents, and facilitate a prisoner exchange: four Israelis held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 (including the remains of two Israeli soldiers) would be released in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The talks collapsed entirely in August 2023, after Netanyahu indefinitely postponed a required committee meeting to approve the prisoner release that would have kept the process moving. It was after the delay that Sinwar issued his explicit earthquake threat, which was passed along to both Israeli officials and bin Zayed, forming the core of the UAE president’s final warning to Netanyahu. Netanyahu has issued a full denial, claiming the phone call with the UAE president never took place and that he never received such a pre-attack warning. These new revelations, published ahead of the release of the book *Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment* by veteran journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, are already fueling new criticism of Netanyahu’s leadership and the multiple intelligence and policy failures that preceded the October 7 attacks.
UAE president ‘personally told Netanyahu’ of Hamas plans for major ‘event’ ahead of 7 October
