Egypt warned Israel of Hamas terror, confirms US lawmaker

“We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” says U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair.

By World Israel News Staff

A U.S. lawmaker confirmed that Israel was warned by Egyptian intelligence about an imminent attack by Hamas, after IDF officials admitted that there were “signs” regarding a potential offensive by the terror group.

Egyptian officials told numerous media outlets that they had informed their Israeli counterparts that Hamas was “planning something big,” but that the message had apparently failed to travel up the chain of command and reach the appropriate decision-makers.

“We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” the Egyptian official told AP.

Notably, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strenuously denied those claims in a recent televised statement, stating that they were “fake news.”

But U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) confirmed in a media conference on Wednesday that Israel had indeed been warned about a forthcoming Hamas attack.

“There seems to have been a failure of intelligence. We’re not quite sure how we missed it. We’re not quite sure how Israel missed it,” he told reporters, following a closed-door briefing regarding the ongoing conflict.

“We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen. We know this event was planned perhaps as long as a year ago.”

During a media conference on Thursday morning, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Hebrew-language media that the night before Hamas’ assault, “there were signs” of an inevitable attack.

Hagari said the IDF had not understood the potential magnitude of the attack, and promised that an investigation after the war ends will “bring answers to the public” regarding the apparent intelligence failure.

It seems that the IDF was aware of increased Hamas activity along the Gaza border fence the night before the attack, but had decided not to act at the time.