Israel army: We warned Netanyahu before Hamas attack

The Israeli army’s Intelligence Division says it warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu prior to 7 October that an attack was to be carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

The army revealed yesterday that it had sent four warning letters between March and July 2023 “concerning how Israel’s ‘enemies’ perceived the societal divides in the State of Israel and their effect on Israel and the IDF in particular,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

However the Prime Minister’s Office denied that the letters contained details of threats, saying: “Not only is there no warning in any of the documents about Hamas’s intentions to attack Israel from Gaza, but they actually contain completely opposite assessments.”

Adding that the second letter stated that “Hamas is not interested in escalation and seeks an agreement with Israel.”

Netanayhu has repeatedly said he had not received warning about any attack from security forces. But said in an interview this month that he holds himself responsible for the 7 October failure, adding: “I think we have to examine how it happened. What was the intelligence failure?”

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