The former head of the spy agency’s international diplomacy department says he had no recollection of “any reports regarding a warning” from the UAE’s president or Fatah officials, nor “a visit by [Egyptian intelligence chief] Abbas Kamel” before Hamas’s October 2023 incursion into southern Israel.
Eyal Tsir Cohen said Kamel may have “secretly” travelled to Israel without engaging with his department, but added that they’ve met repeatedly after October 7.
Cohen’s comments were a response to WSJ reporting that Egypt sent Israel three separate warnings that Gaza was a powder keg ready to ignite, including a personal call by Kamel to Netanyahu days before the attack. In an in-person trip to Israel in September, Kamel warned officials the “dire” situation could “blow up in everyone’s faces.”
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected reports that Egypt had warned Israel beforehand that Hamas was plotting an attack on the Israeli territory, and gave instructions to file a defamation lawsuit against its authors.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall Street Journal previously reported, citing sources, that Egypt had warned Israel multiple times about an impending attack by Hamas. One such warning was conveyed to Israel by Abbas Kamel who at the time headed the Egyptian General Intelligence Service.