Egypt warned Israel three days before Hamas massacre - US congressman

Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF •

Rep. Michael McCaul speaks when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on The Biden Administration

 (photo credit: KEN CEDENO/POOL VIA REUTERS)

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul told reporters on Wednesday that Egypt had warned Israel three days before Hamas's assault on southern Israel that "an event like this could happen," according to US media.

"There seems to have been a failure of intelligence. We're not quite sure how we missed it. We're not quite sure how Israel missed it," said McCaul after a classified briefing about the war.

"We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen. We know this event was planned perhaps as long as a year ago," added the House Foreign Affair chair.
Series of reports claim Egypt warned Israel ahead of assault

McCaul's statements come after a series of reports that Egyptian intelligence officials had sent warnings to Israel ahead of Hamas's assault over the weekend.



Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in Cairo, Egypt on September 14, 2023. (credit: KHALED DESOUKI/POOL VIA REUTERS)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostEgyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in Cairo, Egypt on September 14, 2023.

(credit: KHALED DESOUKI/POOL VIA REUTERS)

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that an Egyptian intelligence official had said that Egypt had warned Israel repeatedly about “something big," but that this warning was downplayed as Israeli officials were focusing on the West Bank.

“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 to the AP.

Related video: Israel puts horrors of Hamas attack on display (cbc.ca)

Duration 3:15  View on Watch

On Tuesday, Al-Monitor reported as well that senior Egyptian officials had warned Israel of an impending attack from Gaza, but that these warnings were not specific and not brought to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attention.

On Wednesday, the Financial Times cited two unnamed officials as stating that Egyptian intelligence repeatedly warned Israel that the situation in the Gaza Strip could "explode." The officials added that there was no hard intelligence about a specific attack and this was only a "general warning."

The Prime Minister's Office has denied the reports, calling them "absolutely false" and stressing that "No message in advance has arrived from Egypt and the prime minister has neither spoken, nor met, with the head of Egyptian intelligence since the formation of the government, neither directly nor indirectly."