WorldPosted at: Oct 14 2026 6:27PM


Netanyahu confirms visit of Egyptian spy chief prior to Oct 7 terror attack but denies having met with him

Jerusalem, Oct 14 (UNI) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Israel days before the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, though denied that the two ever met and blamed security officials for failing to anticipate the assault.
Speaking to the pro-government Channel 14 programme 'The Patriots' on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Kamel had not met him because he was attending a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers at the time.
"He didn't meet with me, he didn't speak with me," Netanyahu said. "When does an intelligence chief meet with a head of state?"
However, Netanyahu had hosted Kamel at his official residence in Jerusalem in 2021.
Netanyahu said he did not know whom the Egyptian intelligence chief had met during the visit, claiming Kamel had been in Israel for around 50 minutes.
"The head of the Egyptian intelligence was here. He spent something like 50 minutes on the ground. I want to know who he met," he said.
Kamel reportedly warned Israeli officials that Hamas was preparing a major attack if Israel failed to agree to a deal involving the release of prisoners and economic concessions.
Following earlier reports of the warning, Netanyahu's office had denied that Egypt had delivered an advance alert, saying the prime minister had neither met nor spoken to Kamel since the current government was formed.
The visit is among a series of reported warnings that Israeli officials received before the October 7 terror attack but allegedly failed to act upon. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied receiving advance warnings and has blamed the security establishment for the failures surrounding the assault.
In the interview, Netanyahu also rejected allegations that he had blocked a viable Gaza deal that could have secured the earlier release of hostages, including some who subsequently died in captivity.
He said there had been no such agreement, arguing that the proposals amounted to complete capitulation in Gaza and would not have guaranteed the return of all the hostages.
Netanyahu again accused Israel's intelligence and military chiefs of failing to wake him on the night of October 7, despite indications that Hamas was preparing an attack. He claimed senior officials feared that alerting him would prompt an aggressive response that could trigger a wider confrontation.
According to Netanyahu, intelligence and military officials believed Hamas was conducting a drill or preparing for a limited operation. He said they had observed Hamas operatives inserting Israeli SIM cards into their phones and senior commanders moving underground, but remained convinced that the activity did not indicate a major assault.
"They were locked in a conception that it was a drill, or a small thing," he said.
Netanyahu claimed that, had he been alerted, he would have ordered immediate security measures, including placing the air force on alert and cancelling the Nova music festival.
"If they had woken me up, they knew I'd have woken everybody and cancelled Nova and put the air force on alert," he said.
He added that security officials had feared that waking him could cause an unintended escalation.
"If we wake up the prime minister, he'll cause Hamas to attack us without meaning to," Netanyahu said, describing what he claimed the security chiefs had believed.
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