Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas in a press conference Wednesday confirmed Egypt warned Israel of a possible attack three days before Hamas breached Israel’s southern border.
“We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” Rep. McCaul said after a classified briefing. An anonymous Egyptian official also claimed his country had warned Israel in advance something big was coming, per The Associated Press (AP). (RELATED: Israel Forms National Unity Government To Wage War On Hamas)
Rep. McCaul also expressed his uncertainty over how both Israeli and American intelligence missed this.
“We’re not quite sure how we missed it. We’re not quite sure how Israel missed it,” Rep. McCaul said.
Michael McCaul told reporters both U.S. and Israeli intelligence operations failed to spot and warn ahead of the terrorist attacks over the weekend. https://t.co/OVh9WsQtvU
— POLITICO Congress (@politicongress) October 11, 2023
An Egyptian official speculated to Times of Israel it was possible the warning did not make its way to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desk.
Various intelligence experts have also expressed shock and surprise over the apparent failure.
“The Israeli services are among the best in the world, so missing something of this magnitude is truly shocking,” Emily Harding, a former intelligence official, told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) on Tuesday.
Retired Col. Rich Outzen told DCNF those groups who attacked Israel exercised a “purposeful disinformation and deception” campaign.