Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hegari confirmed that an investigation will take place regarding the warnings about the "7 October" attack, following the release of information indicating that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had received a warning from the military about Hamas's intention to launch an attack.
Hegari added that "the army failed in its mission on 7 October, and we now have the task of investigating and reforming to ensure that this does not happen again," noting that "the army is operating in several areas in Rafah to achieve war goals, with the primary focus now being on the recovery of hostages." He stated, "We eliminated Hussein Fayyad, the commander of the Hamas battalion in Beit Hanoun, in Jabalia."
Earlier today, Netanyahu's office issued a statement denying that the messages from the army warned of an imminent Hamas attack. The statement emphasized that "it is not only that there were no warnings in any of the documents regarding Hamas's intentions to attack Israel from Gaza, but it actually contains completely opposite assessments."
The statement also indicated that references to Hamas in the four documents imply that Hamas does not want to attack Israel from Gaza and prefers to reach an agreement.
Netanyahu's office further discussed the response to the second warning dated May 31, 2023, stating that this message recommended that Israel take steps "to reach an agreement with Gaza and Hamas authorities." According to the Prime Minister's office, the message indicated that "Hamas is not interested in escalation and seeks to reach an agreement with Israel."
According to the Prime Minister's office, "regarding the allegation in the documents about the negative impact of disunity in Israel on our enemies - the Prime Minister himself has warned about this many times concerning the phenomenon of service refusal." The office cited a statement made on July 17, 2023, where Netanyahu said that internal conflicts "lead to the erosion of deterrence against our enemies, who can easily be tempted to commit aggressive acts against us."
Netanyahu's denial came after the Israeli army confirmed today that the Prime Minister received four warning messages between March and July 2023 from the intelligence branch about how Israel's "enemies" view the societal divisions within Israel and their impact on Israel, particularly the Israeli army.
During the first month of the war, the Prime Minister claimed he had not received any alerts regarding any threat to state security before the 7 October attack. He then posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on October 29, 2023, after making a joint statement with Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on the evening of October 28.
In the tweet, he said: "Contrary to false claims: Prime Minister Netanyahu was not warned under any circumstances and at any stage of the war intentions from Hamas. On the contrary, all security officials, including the National Security Council Chair and the head of the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas was deterred."
The post sparked controversy and was deleted the following morning. That evening, Netanyahu made another official statement, affirming that he had not received any prior warnings from senior security personnel.
