Israel has denied reports claiming that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was warned by Egypt that Hamas was planning to attack.
The terrorist group sent fighters into Israel over the weekend, with video footage showing Israelis being taken hostage and killed in various barbaric ways. The death toll in Israel is now recorded at 900.
It is believed that more than 1,500 people in total have died after Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in retaliation.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said: “The report to the effect that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a message in advance from Egypt is absolutely false.
“No message in advance has arrived from Egypt and the Prime Minister has neither spoken, nor met, with the head of Egyptian intelligence since the formation of the government, neither directly nor indirectly. This is totally fake news.”
This tweet was referring to an Egyptian intelligence official who said that Jerusalem had ignored repeated warnings that the Gaza-based terror group was planning “something big”.
The official told the Associated Press: “We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings.”
Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told the Times of Israel that this was a “major” security failure, adding that “this operation actually proves that the [intelligence] abilities in Gaza were no good.”
As well as the bombing campaign, Netanyahu has also ordered a complete siege of the Gaza Strip.
This will leave the people trapped there with no food, electricity, and other basic supplies.
Netanyahu, who declared that his country is at war with Hamas this week, added: “What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible; we are already in the campaign and we are just getting started … The state will leave no stone unturned to help all of you. I ask that you stand steadfast because we are going to change the Middle East.”
The Israeli leader has also reportedly warned the US that a ground invasion of Gaza could be on the cards.
With tensions in the Middle East already boiling, reports have also suggested that Iran may have been involved in the terror attack.
A report in the Wall Street Journal quotes unnamed members of Hamas and the Lebanese guerrilla movement Hezbollah as saying that Iran gave the go-ahead for the attack a week ago. Iran denied the allegations.
The US says it had “not yet” seen evidence Iran was involved.
