Ex-Defense Minister Gallant: Shin Bet Received Hamas Warning Before Oct. 7
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed on Sunday that the Shin Bet security agency received a message from Hamas in the weeks before the October 7 massacre, indicating that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar intended to "shake the prisons." Gallant stated on Army Radio that the information was relayed through a channel involving the Shin Bet, but the agency did not interpret it as a sign of a large-scale attack preparation.
According to Gallant, both the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate assessed the message as relating to the abduction of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who had been kidnapped in Iraq months earlier. This interpretation led intelligence officials to dismiss any connection to an impending Hamas offensive.
Gallant also addressed recent reports of warnings allegedly conveyed to Israel by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates prior to October 7. He asserted that he had no knowledge of such messages during his tenure as Defense Minister. Furthermore, regarding claims of an Egyptian intelligence chief visiting Israel shortly before the attack, Gallant stated that to his knowledge, no such meeting occurred or was handled by any unit under his command.
These statements add a new dimension to the ongoing debate surrounding the intelligence available to Israeli authorities before October 7 and how various signals from Hamas were interpreted prior to the attack.
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