Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel himself called Netanyahu to warn him that “something violent was afoot from Gaza”, 10 days before terror-labeled Hamas carried out its large-scale attack on Israel on Saturday. This is reported by Israeli Ynet, which refers to an anonymous source within the Egyptian intelligence service.
— We have warned them that the situation will explode, and very soon, and it will be big. But they underestimated such warnings, the source told the AP news agency.
Focus on the West Bank
Israeli authorities were focused on the West Bank and, to the great surprise of the Egyptians, played down the threat from Gaza for political reasons, according to the source. A significant portion of Netanyahu’s government base supports settlers in the occupied West Bank, and has called for security to be tightened after the last 18 months of violence there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies receiving any such warnings from Egypt, calling it “fake news.”
“Did not receive any information”
“No information came in advance from Egypt and the prime minister has neither spoken to nor met with the intelligence chief since the formation of the government,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
Egypt often acts as a mediator between Israel and Hamas and likes to emphasize its role in this. It has previously warned Israel that increased tensions with the Palestinians make a continued peace process more difficult, and urged the country to work for de-escalation.