Mohammed bin Zayed's warning to Netanyahu before October 7

Abu Dhabi Emir Mohammed bin Zayed reportedly personally warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a 45-minute phone call in late September 2023, that Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar was planning ''an earthquake'' against Israel.

This was revealed by an investigation by Haaretz today in which extracts from a new book by journalist Shlomi Eldar on the background to the negotiations for the release of the 251 Israeli hostages kidnapped during the attack on 7 October 2023 are previewed.

According to the reconstruction, based on anonymous foreign and Israeli sources, bin Zayed's warning started from conversations held in September 2023 with Sinwar by a Palestinian intermediary known by the nickname 'Black Eyes', a Fatah leader with fluent knowledge of Hebrew and relationships with both Hamas and the Shin Bet, the Israeli internal intelligence services.

At that time, the Israeli government, which had taken office at the end of 2022, was secretly negotiating through this intermediation to reach a 'hudna' with Hamas, i.e. a long-term truce agreement which included the gradual lifting of the blockade on Gaza, the creation of an industrial zone in the north of the Strip, the increase in work permits for Palestinians, and the supply of natural gas to the Strip.