Wednesday marks three years of the deadly October 7 Hamas attack. However, Israel had reportedly been alerted about the possibility of an attack just days before.
Israel was alerted by Egypt about the possibility of a major violent incident from Gaza three days before Hamas launched its deadly cross-border attack, according to Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Israel received a specific warning about the attack.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Podcast, Younger said Israel may have believed Hamas was not seeking another major conflict. Because of the classified nature of the information, he said he could not provide further details. As a result, information that challenged that assumption may have been discounted.
“We know that Egypt has warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” McCaul told reporters after the briefing in 2023, according to AFP. But they underestimated such warnings,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Israeli officials had played down the threat from Gaza and were instead more focused on the West Bank, according to the official. Sir Alex Younger, who led the UK’s foreign intelligence agency from 2014 to 2020, said the attack was possible because of what he described as “institutional complacency” in Israel.
McCaul said the warning was discussed during a closed-door intelligence briefing for US lawmakers on Wednesday.
