[Regnum] The United Arab Emirates (UAE) warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in advance of an impending attack by the Palestinian radical movement Hamas on October 7, 2023, but the office of the Israeli Prime Minister ignored it, Haaretz reported on September 8, based on the book "Abducted: 843 Days of Solitude" by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.
There were lots of warnings. But Hamas had worked very hard to desensitize the Israelis against thinking that the signs were anything but a feint, and it worked.According to the publication, in late September 2023, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Netanyahu by phone of Hamas's plans to invade Israel. Netanyahu responded calmly to the information and assured that Israel was prepared for any scenario. Netanyahu's office responded by stating that the prime minister had not spoken to the UAE leader during the period in question and had not received any warnings, calling the investigation "a lie."
According to an adviser to the UAE president, the Israeli prime minister did not inform the Israeli Defense Ministry leadership about the warning and did nothing with the information he received.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack on Israel and captured several towns. During the attack, militants targeted a music festival in southern Israel. The Guardian reported that at least 260 bodies were found after the attack. Israel retaliated by launching missile strikes on the Gaza Strip and regained control.
On October 8, 2023, Israeli authorities declared the country in a state of war. This was followed by a large-scale IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip. However, the IDF also began targeting civilian targets. On October 31, 2023, the army struck the Jabaliya refugee camp. According to the Gaza Strip Ministry of the Interior, the strike killed and injured approximately 400 people. In the first six months alone, more than 34,000 people, including approximately 13,000 children, were killed in the war in the Gaza Strip.