Report Says UAE Warned Netanyahu Before October 7

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed roughly 10 days before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation, according to an investigation published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, drawing on an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval titled Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment. The report says the warning came in a September 2023 phone call in which bin Zayed cautioned that an attack could cause significant bloodshed, destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords, and advised Netanyahu to pursue an economic solution for Gaza and calm tensions in the West Bank. According to Haaretz, the message originated with Sinwar, who told an intermediary in the Fatah party, trusted by both Hamas and Israel's Shin Bet security agency, that he was preparing what he called a major surprise. The intermediary relayed the message to bin Zayed, who spoke directly with Netanyahu. The report says Netanyahu responded calmly, assured the UAE president that Israel was prepared for any scenario, and suggested an attack was more likely to come from the West Bank.