Netanyahu's office admits to having been alerted ahead of October 7 rampage
A controversy erupted between the military and the Prime Minister's Office regarding the critical hours preceding the Hamas attack
The Prime Minister's Office admitted on Saturday to having been informed on the night of October 7, 2023, ahead of the Hamas-led invasion and massacres in southern Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intelligence officer received notification of unusual developments in the Gaza Strip on the night preceding the attack, and not just after 6:00 am as initially declared. This follows revelations from Channel 12 news regarding the critical hours before the Hamas offensive. This information, stemming from internal military investigations but never revealed to the public until now, includes statements from the Israeli army's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
According to the report, a document containing warning signs was sent at 3:30 am to six of the seven intelligence officers of the "most important people in the country," including the top defense officials of the time. The intelligence officer of then-defense minister Yoav Gallant was not awakened and did not receive the update.
"If the Prime Minister's intelligence officer was a person of integrity, he should have already told him that he was aware of Hamas' preparations on the eve of the attack and that he had not informed him. He did not do it," said Halevi.
In response, the intelligence officer affirms having transmitted the information to the Prime Minister's military secretary, despite the indication in the document that the next discussion on Gaza would not take place until the following morning.
The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that the alert had indeed been passed on to Military Secretary Avi Gil during the night, but clarified: "Faced with the determination in the message that this was not an urgent event, he chose not to wake him up from his sleep."
"It was only after the start of the war, at 6:29 AM on Saturday, that the Military Secretary informed the Prime Minister of the night's events," Netanyahu's office added.
The investigation also revealed fears concerning a possible simultaneous attack from Hezbollah. Chief of Staff Halevi reportedly stated that, "If Nasrallah had attacked now, we could have seen the Radwan force in Haifa." This assessment of the strategic situation partly explains the delays in deploying forces to the border areas of Gaza.