UAE Official Confirms Warning to Israel Before October 7

A source close to the UAE leadership has confirmed to N12 that the United Arab Emirates issued a warning to Israel prior to the October 7th Hamas attacks. The source, speaking after the war began, stated they heard about the warning "seriously in the first few days after." This marks the first confirmation from a Gulf official regarding direct channels of warning to Israel before the Hamas massacre.

The source criticized Israeli leadership, suggesting "there are leaders who are willing to gamble with your lives for half an hour in power." They also interpreted the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official statement from the previous day, which stated the UAE "does not respond to media reports or speculation regarding discussions between government leaders," as an indirect confirmation. "The statement they published yesterday says the whole thing and doesn't deny that it happened, they couldn't help but address it," the source added.

While confirming a warning was issued, the UAE official did not provide details on its specific content, how it was delivered, or to whom in Israel it was given. It remains unclear if this warning is the same one reported by Haaretz, which alleged that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's plans for a major operation during a phone call about a week and a half before October 7th.

Another source familiar with UAE decision-making processes corroborated the interpretation of the official statement, noting that "in the Emirati way that I know, they actually confirmed the things by publishing the statement. There is no accidental word in such a formulation from the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There was hours of thought behind formulating the text."

This comes amid a Haaretz investigation claiming bin Zayed warned Netanyahu about Sinwar's intentions, while Netanyahu allegedly downplayed the threat and did not update security chiefs. The investigation also reported that Israel's Shin Bet received a similar warning in mid-September, which was interpreted as possibly related to securing the release of Israeli captive Elizabeth Tsurkov. Prime Minister Netanyahu has denied the Haaretz report, calling it a "false fabrication," and stated that no such call with the UAE president took place, with his office citing checks of official logs.