Overview
- Haaretz reports that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on or around September 23, 2023, for about 45 minutes to warn that Hamas was preparing a large attack and that the warning was not passed to Israel’s top security chiefs.
- The investigation says its reconstruction relies on dozens of sources including recordings, internal documents and high-level witnesses while the Prime Minister’s Office issued a blunt denial calling the account 'an absolute lie.'
- Opposition figures including Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett immediately cited the report as evidence that Netanyahu ignored repeated warnings and demanded an immediate, full state commission to establish what was known and when.
- Haaretz links the alleged warning to broader pre-October 2023 context: indirect talks with Hamas over prisoner releases and an Israeli force posture focused on the West Bank, and it says bin Zayed also warned CIA Director William Burns that 'something is about to explode.'
- The disclosure intensifies political pressure ahead of the October 27, 2026 election and could prompt official probes, renewed calls from victims’ families for accountability and scrutiny of how intelligence and political decisions were handled before the 7 October attack.