Egypt’s spy chief visited Israel before Oct. 7, says Netanyahu

The prime minister questioned why a foreign intelligence chief would meet directly with a head of government, describing such an arrangement as highly unusual.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Egypt’s intelligence chief secretly visited Israel just 11 days before the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, but denied meeting with him or receiving any warning about the impending attack.

Speaking Tuesday during an interview with Channel 14‘s “The Patriots,” Netanyahu confirmed that Abbas Kamel, who headed Egypt’s General Intelligence Service at the time, had arrived in Israel on September 26, 2023. He insisted, however, that he had not spoken with Kamel and did not know which Israeli officials had met with him.

“He didn’t meet with me because I was at a memorial ceremony for IDF soldiers,” Netanyahu said, referring to an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

The prime minister questioned why a foreign intelligence chief would meet directly with a head of government, describing such an arrangement as highly unusual.

However, official government records and photographs show that Netanyahu previously hosted Kamel at his Jerusalem residence in May 2021. The two discussed Israeli-Egyptian cooperation and regional security issues during that meeting.

Netanyahu also personally met with Egypt’s intelligence chief in October 2025, according to an official statement issued by his office.

Addressing Kamel’s September 2023 visit, Netanyahu demanded that Israeli authorities determine whom the Egyptian official had contacted.

“I want to know who he met with,” Netanyahu said, adding that security-camera recordings should be examined to establish what happened during the visit.

The prime minister suggested that whoever received Kamel was attempting to shift responsibility for the failures preceding the Hamas massacre onto him.

His acknowledgment follows revelations published in September that Kamel flew to Israel aboard a private aircraft associated with Egyptian intelligence and remained in the country for approximately 67 minutes.

According to the investigation, Kamel warned senior Israeli officials that Hamas was preparing a potentially unprecedented attack and urged Israel to take steps to prevent a major escalation in Gaza.

The warning reportedly reflected Egyptian concerns about changes in Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s behavior and increased coordination among terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.

Although Egyptian intelligence reportedly lacked specific information about the timing and operational details of the planned assault, officials regarded the situation as sufficiently serious to warrant an urgent visit by the country’s intelligence chief.

Separate reporting subsequently alleged that Egypt had conveyed at least three warnings to Israel in the months preceding October 7, including a telephone conversation between Kamel and Netanyahu in early October 2023.

Netanyahu has categorically denied that such a conversation occurred.

In a statement issued in September, the Prime Minister’s Office maintained that Netanyahu neither met nor spoke with Kamel in the months preceding the massacre and that no Israeli intelligence official had passed an Egyptian warning to him.

The office also cited an Egyptian denial issued shortly after the October 7 attack, rejecting claims that Cairo had provided Israel with advance warning.

Eyal Tsir Cohen, who headed the Mossad’s foreign intelligence cooperation department at the time, has also said he does not recall receiving warnings from Egypt or the United Arab Emirates about an impending Hamas assault.

The intelligence failures surrounding October 7 remain a major political controversy in Israel, with questions persisting over whether senior officials received warnings that were disregarded, inadequately investigated or never passed up the chain of command.