Then-Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Israel on Sept. 26, 2023, with a warning that Hamas appeared to be mobilizing for a major attack, The Atlantic reported, citing officials from several countries.
His message, according to a former Israeli official briefed on the visit, was that Gaza would “blow up in your faces” unless Israel changed course. Eleven days later, Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack.
Netanyahu’s office has denied receiving warnings from Egypt.
The Netanyahu government’s lack of preparation before Oct. 7 is perhaps the most important issue in next month’s Israeli election.
Netanyahu has refused to establish an independent state inquiry into the failures.
What Egyptian official told Israel on Sept. 26, 2023
A chartered jet linked to Egypt’s intelligence service landed at Ben Gurion Airport about two hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, according to the report.
The plane stayed on the ground for 67 minutes before returning to Cairo, an Israeli airport authority flight log showed.
Kamel said Hamas appeared to be mobilizing for a major attack and that the window to prevent disaster was closing, according to Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, U.S. and European officials briefed on the visit after Oct. 7.
He recommended that Israel grant Hamas economic concessions.
Kamel did not give a date or specific details of the attack, and it is unclear whom he met, the magazine reported.
At the ceremony that day, Netanyahu described the 1973 surprise attack as a lesson in missed warnings. “We do not underestimate any threat,” he said.
Netanyahu attended a classified briefing after the commemoration, according to his public schedule, and soon after approved some economic concessions to Hamas, The Atlantic reported.
“The messenger was the message,” a former Israeli official said. The official said there was “no world” in which top Israeli officials meet the head of Egyptian intelligence “and Bibi is not aware.”
“For Kamel to go to Israel” for a single hour, an Egyptian official said, “meant that el-Sisi himself felt: You need to go there and tell them yourself.”
Israeli army Merkava tanks are positioned near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 10, 2023. (AFP Photo)
Egypt warning continued until two days before the attack
Egypt kept raising the alarm until two days before the attack, according to U.S., Egyptian and Israeli officials with direct knowledge of those communications.
An Oct. 5 message from Egypt to Israel said the situation was untenable. It gave no date or method but conveyed urgency, the officials said. Egypt also shared its assessments with several regional nations, including Saudi Arabia, a senior Gulf Arab official said.
Jordan’s intelligence chief separately warned Israeli counterparts that the situation had grown potentially explosive, according to Arab officials.
Then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul told reporters on Oct. 11, 2023, after a classified briefing: “We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen.”
He added: “I don’t want to get too much into classified, but a warning was given. I think the question was at what level.”
Two days after the attack, Netanyahu’s office rejected reports of outreach from Kamel.
“The Prime Minister has neither spoken, nor met, with the head of Egyptian intelligence since the formation of the government, neither directly nor indirectly,” it said on X.
Tzachi Hanegbi, then head of Netanyahu’s National Security Council, denied to The Atlantic this week that Kamel had visited or that Egypt had issued any warning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a pager presented as belonging to Hezbollah as he delivers a speech in Tel Aviv on September 17, 2026. (AFP Photo)
UAE call, UN alarm and a US left out of the loop
UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed also called Netanyahu to warn of a possible imminent attack, U.S. and Arab officials told The Atlantic, confirming an earlier Haaretz report. Netanyahu has denied that report and threatened to sue Haaretz.
On Sept. 27, 2023, U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland wrote on X: “The situation inside the Strip is dire and we must avoid another conflict that will have grave consequences for all.”
A former senior U.S. official said Israel’s focus was elsewhere. “It seemed clear that, for whatever reason, the West Bank was their priority,” the official said, adding, “They were confident—even cocky—that they had the situation under control.”
Biden administration officials said neither Egypt nor the UAE shared their warnings with Washington before Oct. 7. CIA Director William Burns was told months later, almost in passing, about both Kamel’s visit and bin Zayed’s call, officials said.
‘Lulled to sleep’: Israeli officials on the Oct. 7 failures
Herzi Halevi, then chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, described the military as having been “lulled to sleep” in leaked recordings aired by Israel’s Channel 12.
In another recording, he said he had regarded Gaza “as the last border that needed attention.”
Halevi resigned in March 2025, and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar resigned under pressure that June. Kamel left Egypt’s General Intelligence Service in October 2024 and now serves as an adviser and special envoy to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Netanyahu said in a campaign video last month that security officials failed to wake him on the morning of Oct. 7.
“In the lead-up to October, there were so many warning signs, so many indications, that an attack was imminent,” he said, without offering specifics. “Had they woken me up, everything would have looked different. That is the story of October 7th—that is the story.”
The Egypt warning report comes as Israelis prepare to vote next month, with Netanyahu facing the most serious challenge of his career.
September 26, 2026 12:50 PM GMT+03:00