Ex-PA Official Claims Hamas Leader Warned Israel Before Oct. 7 Attack

A former senior Palestinian Authority official, Dr. Sufian Abu Zaida, has claimed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar conveyed a direct message to Israeli leadership shortly before the October 7th attacks. Abu Zaida stated in a Facebook video that he would soon reveal details of secret contacts between Israel and Hamas, which he alleges lasted for about 18 months prior to the war. The reported goal of these negotiations was humanitarian settlement and a prisoner exchange, with Hamas seeking the release of hundreds of terrorists and the lifting of the Gaza blockade, while Israel conditioned progress on the return of fallen soldiers' bodies and living hostages.

According to Abu Zaida, Sinwar also sent a secret message to Israel, the exact content of which has not yet been disclosed. This aligns with a previous investigation by journalists Shlomo Eldar and Ruth Yuval, who reported that Hamas had warned Jerusalem of an impending "outbreak of violence in the prisons over the issue of prisoners" weeks before the attack. This information was reportedly highly classified, known only to a small circle within the security cabinet, the IDF, Shin Bet, and Mossad.

Despite high-level meetings and full briefings for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, intelligence officials reportedly believed Sinwar was not planning a large-scale operation but was instead trying to leverage the hostage situation of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was held by Shiite militias in Iraq. A strict compartmentalization of intelligence reportedly prevented many military intelligence analysts from connecting Sinwar's warnings to other suspicious activities along the border.

Eldar and Yuval's investigation also revealed that Abu Zaida, operating under the codename "Coal Eyes," provided critical intelligence to the Shin Bet in mid-September 2023. The head of the Shin Bet reportedly recommended a preemptive strike on Gaza or a significant reinforcement of southern defenses based on this information, but no concrete decisions were made. Separately, Eldar and Yuval reported that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had warned Netanyahu of Hamas's impending attack 10 days prior, a claim Netanyahu vehemently denied and sued over, while UAE authorities declined to confirm or deny the call.

Abu Zaida, who is fluent in Hebrew and frequently appears as an expert on Israeli television, is now seen as a potential key witness to the intelligence failures preceding October 7th. His new revelations could shed light on how Gaza leadership formulated its threats and why Israeli leadership allegedly ignored these signals.