Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a direct warning from United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed approximately 10 days before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, according to an investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz based on a forthcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.
In a conversation lasting roughly 45 minutes in late September 2023, bin Zayed told Netanyahu that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major offensive against Israel, Haaretz reported, citing three senior foreign sources familiar with the exchange. The UAE leader warned that such an operation would cause extensive bloodshed, destabilize the region, and jeopardize the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority nations.
According to Haaretz, the warning came through a Palestinian adviser to bin Zayed who had connections to Palestinian organizations in Gaza. Netanyahu responded with relative calm, assuring bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario and suggesting that a possible attack was more likely to originate from the occupied West Bank, the newspaper reported.
The critical detail in Haaretz's account is that Netanyahu did not inform Israeli security officials of the warning. The report, based on interviews with dozens of sources including senior Israeli officials, has drawn sharp criticism from opposition figures who have accused Netanyahu of negligence in handling the intelligence.
Netanyahu's office denied the account entirely, calling it an "absolute lie" and stating that no such communication with the UAE president occurred in late September 2023.
On October 7, Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in the attack. The assault prompted a major Israeli military response in Gaza, where the death toll has reached 73,658 according to sources cited in reports.
The revelation has intensified political pressure on Netanyahu as Israel approaches parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27, 2026. Opposition politicians have seized on the Haaretz investigation to question the prime minister's handling of intelligence and security matters prior to the attack.