Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an explicit warning about a major operation being planned by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar shortly before the October 7 attack, according to a new book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval. Netanyahu’s office has rejected the account as “a complete lie.”
The book, Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment, says Sinwar sent a warning that he was preparing a “big surprise” and repeatedly used the Arabic word zilzal, meaning “earthquake.” The account follows an earlier report by Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Smadar Perry, published in the opening days of the war, that Egypt had also warned Netanyahu of “something terrible” days before the massacre.
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UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Yahya Sinwar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: AP, Alex Kolomoisky)
“The story starts earlier,” Eldar said Tuesday. He said the episode began during indirect negotiations involving Israel, Hamas and Fatah over the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul and the release of Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who were then being held in Gaza. When those contacts stalled in early September 2023, Eldar said, Sinwar disappeared completely and dropped off the Shin Bet’s radar.
According to Eldar, Sinwar then contacted a Fatah figure and told him: “Pass on to the Israelis that I’m planning a big surprise for them if they don’t make progress.” Sinwar used the word “earthquake,” Eldar said. The Fatah figure, alarmed by the conversation, passed the message to an associate who now serves as an adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Sinwar then repeated the warning: “Pass it on to the Israelis, I’m planning an ‘earthquake’ for them.”
The call on the 'special app'
Eldar said then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar received the information on September 15 and passed it on to Netanyahu. About a week later, according to the book, bin Zayed sought to make sure Netanyahu had received the warning and called him through a special communications system developed by the UAE.
“They have conversations through a unique system. A representative from the embassy arrives with the application, with a phone, and they hold a conversation that lasts 45 minutes,” Eldar said.
During that conversation, the investigation claims, Netanyahu tried to reassure the UAE president, telling him: “We are prepared in Gaza.” Netanyahu reportedly assessed that if trouble erupted, it was more likely to occur in the West Bank. The book says Netanyahu did not subsequently brief then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi, Bar or then-Mossad chief David Barnea about the alleged call.
“People in the security establishment say, both in the Shin Bet and the IDF, that if we had known about that conversation, we would essentially have received another assessment reinforcing the information that had already arrived on September 15,” Eldar said.
Netanyahu’s office categorically denied the account published by Haaretz. “A complete lie. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and received no warning from him,” it said. Bar and Halevi also said they had not been informed of any warning conveyed by the UAE president.
David Barnea, Ronen Bar and Herzi Halevi
(Photos: GPO, Ariel Hermoni, IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Yariv Katz, Moti Kimchi)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who recently met bin Zayed, said the report was true. “The report that Netanyahu was warned 10 days before the October 7 massacre about Sinwar’s intentions is true,” Bennett said. “Netanyahu bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch. His disregard for the warnings constitutes criminal negligence, and that is why he is doing everything to prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry that would expose the truth.”
Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff and chairman of the Yashar party, also seized on the report, saying it added to evidence that Netanyahu had failed to recognize warnings ahead of the attack.
“More and more signs indicate that Netanyahu led Israel blindly into the October 7 failure,” Eisenkot said. He accused Netanyahu’s associates of amplifying conspiracy theories and hiding behind the claim that “they didn’t wake me up.”
“He knows the truth, and he is terrified of it and is trying to escape responsibility,” Eisenkot said. “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings ahead of October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit.”
Eisenkot said that after the next government is formed, it should establish a state commission of inquiry examining the decade leading up to the attack, including what Netanyahu knew, what he did not know and how the warning signs were handled.
The October Council, a group representing families and activists seeking accountability over the October 7 failures, said the new allegations raised broader questions about the warning signs that preceded the Hamas attack.
“Anyone arguing over whether Netanyahu was woken up on the night of October 7 is ignoring the much bigger question: How many times did people try to wake Israel up before the massacre?” the group said.
It called for answers on who knew what before the attack, which warnings reached the prime minister, how he acted on them and what information was or was not passed to Israel’s security establishment.
“Why, despite all the warning signs published since then, did the State of Israel arrive at the morning of October 7 blind and unprepared?” the council said.