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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Egypt’s then-intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Israel shortly before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, after repeatedly rejecting reports that Cairo had warned him of an impending assault, Haaretz reported Tuesday.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said Kamel had spent 59 minutes in the country. He said he did not know which Israeli official had met Kamel, adding: “I want to know who he met with,” and referring to a “deep state.”
Netanyahu denied meeting or speaking with Kamel, saying he was attending a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers at the time. He had previously dismissed reports that Kamel warned him about an imminent Hamas attack as “fake news.”
The Atlantic reported in late September that Kamel traveled to Israel on Sept. 26, 2023, 11 days before the attack, to warn that Hamas was preparing a major assault. Citing Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, US and European officials briefed on the visit, the magazine said Kamel urged Israel to offer Hamas economic concessions to avert a confrontation. It said the identity of the Israeli official he met was unclear.
The Wall Street Journal also reported last month that Kamel had called Netanyahu days before the attack, following two earlier Egyptian warnings that went unheeded.
Separately, The New York Times reported in September that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had warned Netanyahu of a possible major Hamas attack, but that the Israeli prime minister did not pass the warning on to his security chiefs.
