Was it 'writing on the wall'? The warnings Netanyahu received before October 7

Tel Aviv - Afaq News - Nearly three years after the events of October 7, which were the harshest Israel has witnessed, no official investigation committee has yet been formed to investigate the reasons that led to the "disaster and failure."

A month before the elections, the topic has returned to the forefront of the agenda in the last two weeks, following a series of revelations about what senior officials in Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, knew about the plan prepared at that time by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The following is a timeline that highlights the events and raises many questions about how they were handled.

September 14, 2023: Sinwar threatens a "quake" and "Coal Eyes" rushes to convey the message.

Sufyan Abu Zaida, known by the nickname "Coal Eyes," is a Palestinian official close to Mohammed Dahlan.

Abu Zaida revealed last week, in an interview with Egyptian television, that he met with Sinwar on September 14 and discussed Gaza affairs, development projects, and the prisoners' file.

Abu Zaida said that Sinwar asked him to convey a message to the Israelis stating: "Before the end of September, we will put our papers on the table, which will lead to an earthquake in the negotiations. They must prepare to empty the prisons."

According to reports, Sinwar used the word "earthquake" for the first time during that meeting to describe what was awaiting Israel.

It was also reported that he asked him in another meeting, held in mid-September, whether he had conveyed the message.

When he received a negative response, he told him: "Convey to them a message that I am preparing a surprise for them from the land of surprises. A massive operation, something extraordinary," and he repeated the same word.

According to an investigation by Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval published in the newspaper "Haaretz", this information was conveyed to senior officials in the security system, including Prime Minister Netanyahu.

September 26, 2023: "Israel Hayom" reveals the specific Egyptian warning.

On December 29, 2025, Benny Gantz revealed in the newspaper "Israel Hayom" that a senior Egyptian official arrived at Ben Gurion Airport.

The visit took place during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, which was the war in which Egypt surprised Israel.

This time, Egypt sent the head of the Egyptian intelligence agency, Abbas Kamel, who warned an Israeli official that Hamas is planning something big in Gaza.

This took place during a conversation on his plane, which remained at Ben Gurion Airport for an hour and seven minutes.

Netanyahu and his office denied this information, but the report published by "The Atlantic" last night fully confirmed it, including the identity of the individual and the nature of the warning he conveyed to the Israeli official he met with.

End of September 2023: Warning from Mohammed bin Zayed

On September 8 of this year, journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval revealed in the newspaper "Haaretz" a warning call made by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he warned him that Hamas was planning something big.

Netanyahu's office quickly denied the report. Netanyahu even announced that he instructed his lawyer to file a defamation lawsuit against Eldar, Yuval, and the newspaper "Haaretz", but such a lawsuit has not been filed yet.

At the same time, pressure was exerted from Tel Aviv on the UAE to deny the phone call, but this denial was not issued, except for a report based on an anonymous source in an Emirati site, which stated that the warnings were only communicated between the intelligence agencies of the two countries.

October 1, 2023: The meeting in which the information was ignored.

According to a report published by the New York Times last night, between Friday and Saturday, Netanyahu held a meeting with heads of security agencies six days before the events of October 7.

During the meeting, Netanyahu did not inform senior security officials about the clear and direct warning he received from the UAE, nor about the warning that came from Egypt.

According to the newspaper's report, which said it obtained the minutes of the meeting, Netanyahu opposed the proposals of the heads of security agencies to take action in Gaza, indicating that it was better to maintain calm.

According to the report, Netanyahu justified the need for calm by believing that the normalization process with Saudi Arabia has made progress, and that an agreement is close.