UAE leader allegedly warned Netanyahu of Hamas plans before Oct. 7, but no action taken

Two individuals who either spoke with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed or were briefed about his conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late September 2023 were cited. The Emirati leader allegedly warned that Hamas was considering a large-scale operation, though the intelligence did not specify whether rockets or a ground incursion were planned. Five former senior Israeli officials say the warning never reached the nation's security leadership, and minutes from an Oct. 1 meeting chaired by Netanyahu contain no reference to the Emirati alert.

That meeting focused on maintaining calm in Gaza and rejecting Israeli strikes that could undermine a near-term Saudi-Israel diplomatic agreement. Netanyahu's office maintains that any UAE intelligence would have been routed through Israeli channels, while the UAE foreign ministry rejects the claim of a direct warning. A later conversation between Sheikh Mohammed and CIA Director William Burns reportedly revisited the September call, but Israeli investigations into the Oct. 7 failures have not mentioned it.