Egyptian intelligence reportedly warned that “something big” may happen at any time, but Israel failed to anticipate the terrorist acts committed by Hamas, as reported by The Associated Press on October 9. An Egyptian intelligence officer who spoke to the news organization on condition of anonymity said that despite numerous warnings to the Mossad about the scenario, Israeli authorities continued to reject the information
The officer explained that they warned Israel that “an explosion of the situation” was about to happen and noted this would be massive. However, the person pointed out that the Israeli officials repeatedly underestimated the warnings. The Associated Press said that the Egyptian officer serves as one of Egypt’s official mediators between Hamas and Israel.
An Egyptian official informed the news agency that Israeli leaders dismissed the danger because they were preoccupied with the recent spike in violence in the West Bank. In addition, he said that the Mossad routinely disregarded Egyptian intelligence’s warnings on the grounds that they were “fake news.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement after the AP piece published stating the claims made were “absolutely false.” The office tweeted that Netanyahu had not been briefed by Egyptian intelligence in advance.
Former prime minister’s national security advisor Yaakov Amidror called the Israeli government’s inability to prevent the Hamas terror attack a “major failure” of Israeli intelligence and security. According to his comments to The Associated Press, Hamas’ actions are the clearest demonstration yet that the Mossad’s intelligence capabilities in the Gaza Strip “were no good.” Amidror continued, “lessons must be learned” after the conflict against Hamas is won.
