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A former senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country’s security establishment warned before the October 7, 2023, attacks that its adversaries saw domestic divisions as an opportunity and that Israel’s deterrence was weakening.
Avi Gil, who served as Netanyahu’s military secretary from July 2021 to May 2024, made the comments in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News. He said documents had been submitted for weeks describing how Israel’s enemies perceived divisions in society as a weakness.
“The unequivocal answer is yes, and this was communicated at every level,” Gil said, referring to whether officials had identified a decline in deterrence and a shift in how Israel’s adversaries viewed the country. He said there had been no specific warning of a massive attack from Gaza.
Gil’s account adds to reports that Netanyahu received warnings about the possibility of a Hamas attack in the weeks and months before October 7. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the United Arab Emirates’ leader had warned Netanyahu of a major Hamas operation days before the attack. The Atlantic reported that Egypt’s intelligence minister had also travelled to Israel to deliver a warning.
Netanyahu rejected the Haaretz report, calling it “an absolute lie.”
Gil said he woke Netanyahu on the morning of the attack and connected with him over a secure phone line. At 6:41 a.m., 12 minutes after the Hamas-led attack began, Gil said he told the prime minister: “We are at war.”
In a statement responding to the interview, Netanyahu accused Gil of knowing about the impending attack but failing to wake him in time. He described Gil’s interviews as attempts to obscure what he called a failure in Gil’s performance.
Opposition politicians called for the attorney general to investigate Gil’s claims. Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and a challenger to Netanyahu, said the public was entitled to a full account of what happened and an examination of responsibility.
Gil also said Netanyahu had put the stability of his government ahead of returning hostages, including some who he believes could have come home alive. He said Netanyahu may have been inclined to accept earlier hostage agreements, but far-right ministers persuaded him against doing so.
Gil said there were “enormous gaps” between what the public knew about events before and after October 7 and what had actually taken place. He alleged that Netanyahu’s lengthy response to Israel’s state watchdog about his actions reflected only part of the picture, adding that it did not represent what Gil had witnessed in discussions during his time as military secretary.
