Egypt a state indirectly still fully controlled by Israel

Egypt warned Israel days before Hamas struck, US committee chairman says

Israel was warned by Egypt of potential violence three days before Hamas’ deadly cross-border raid, a US congressional panel chairman has said.

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul told reporters of the alleged warning.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the reports as “absolutely false”.

Israeli intelligence services are under scrutiny for their failure to prevent the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants in Israel’s 75-year history.

“We know that Egypt has warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” Mr McCaul told reporters following a closed-door intelligence briefing on Wednesday for lawmakers about the Middle East crisis, according to AFP news agency.

“I don’t want to get too much into classified, but a warning was given,” the Texas Republican added. “I think the question was at what level.”

An Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press news agency this week that Cairo had repeatedly warned the Israelis “something big” was being planned from Gaza.

“We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Cairo official said Israeli officials had played down the threat from Gaza, instead focusing on the West Bank.

Sir Alex Younger, who served as chief of the UK’s foreign intelligence agency between 2014 and 2020, said Hamas fighters were able to carry out their attack on 7 October due to “institutional complacency” in Israel.

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He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Podcast there may have been an assumption by Israel that Hamas was not interested in a new conflict, so any information that contradicted that was discounted.

“It is my assumption – though I’m not on the inside – that there would be data breaking through that could have been interpreted differently and certainly would be with hindsight,” he said.

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