Hamas had reportedly sent a warning to Israel before its October 7, 2023, attack, with the message conveyed through a Shin Bet channel.
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The warning came from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who cautioned that he would “shake the prisons”, said former defence minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday. Gallant also alleged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warnings from foreign leaders before the attack, but that he himself was not informed about them. “I first heard about these warnings from media reports,” Gallant told Army Radio, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.
Gallant said that if Netanyahu had indeed received such warnings, they should have been treated as a serious security matter. “Assuming these things are true, such a warning that a prime minister receives from the leader of a country is not a political asset; it is a fundamental failure in the overall assessment of the situation,” he said.
Gallant also alleged that Netanyahu kept senior security officials, including the defence minister, out of sensitive conversations with senior US officials during the war.
“During the war, I learned many times about important conversations Netanyahu held with the Americans on the most sensitive issues, such as hostages and ammunition, only after the Americans called me and tried to verify what had been said in those conversations,” Gallant said.
“Their trust in the prime minister was low,” he added.
The Prime Minister's Office earlier this month released Netanyahu's schedule from the morning of October 7, amid disputes over the timing and nature of communications between the prime minister and senior security officials as the Hamas attack unfolded nearly 3 years ago, that killed 1,200.
