An investigation into the Egyptian warning conveyed to Israel days before the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, published over the weekend in The Atlantic, has added another crucial piece to the puzzle.

The article, published Friday night, confirmed previous reporting that the Egyptian warning was conveyed to Israel by Abbas Kamel, the then-head of the country’s intelligence and at the time one of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s closest associates.

According to The Atlantic, a chartered Cessna jet linked to Egypt’s intelligence service landed at Ben Gurion Airport on September 26, 2023, and took off again 67 minutes later. Kamel had flown in on “a most sensitive mission.” An Israeli source quoted by The Atlantic said Kamel’s blunt message was: “Gaza is going to blow up in your faces,” without specifying an exact date.

The first journalist to report the Egyptian warning, just two days after the October 7 massacre, was Smadar Perry of Yedioth Ahronoth.

Perry’s revelation was met with a barrage of absolute denials, including from the Prime Minister’s Office. But she stood by her reporting, and after Netanyahu’s office denied it on October 9, 2023, she added details indicating that Kamel had been the messenger and cited senior Egyptian officials confirming the report.

It is now becoming clear just how accurate Perry’s reporting was, and how frustrated the Egyptians were by Israel’s indifference to the clear warning they had conveyed.

The Atlantic report was joined on Saturday by a New York Times report corroborating Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval’s revelation, published two weeks ago in Haaretz, about another warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received at around the same time, from United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed.

The Times report was based on conversations with two separate sources who confirmed that the two leaders spoke and that, during the conversation, an unequivocal warning was conveyed that Hamas was planning a significant offensive move, although no date was specified.

It appears that the source of both warnings was former Palestinian Authority minister........

© The Times of Israel