Egyptian intelligence repeatedly told Israel that the situation in the Gaza Strip could “explode”, warnings that went unheeded before the deadly Hamas assault on the Jewish state, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
The warnings were not hard intelligence about a specific attack, they said. Egypt instead relayed concerns that “matters could explode because of the political and humanitarian situation in Gaza”, one of the people said. The other called it a “general warning”.
Israel has denied that it received a specific warning of Saturday’s attack, which killed at least 1,200 Israelis and sparked war with Hamas militants who carried out the multipronged assault. Palestinian authorities say more than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Saturday.