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Report Says Egyptian Intelligence Chief Called Netanyahu Days Before Oct. 7

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of Antony Blinken and Benjamin Netanyahu clasping hands at an October 12, 2023 meeting in Tel Aviv; archival context, not a depiction of the reported pre-October-7 phone call or any Egyptian official.

Unnamed officials from an Arab government said Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel telephoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, after a reported visit to Israel in September. Their account says Egypt passed at least three warnings about a possible attack, although the warnings did not identify its timing or scale. The report does not specify the date or recipient of the first warning. Netanyahu's office has previously denied that he met or spoke with Kamel in the months before the attack or received an Egyptian warning; the reported call remains disputed.

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