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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied a report that the UAE warned him 10 days before Oct. 7 that Hamas was planning a major attack.

Getting into it: First reported by the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, the account comes from a forthcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, based on interviews with dozens of Israeli and foreign officials. The book says Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed called Netanyahu in late September 2023 and spent 45 minutes warning him that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major move that would cause bloodshed, destabilize the region and potentially damage the Abraham Accords.

Netanyahu reportedly reacted with relative calm, telling bin Zayed that Israel had Gaza under control, that any Hamas action was more likely to come from the West Bank, and that Israel was prepared for any scenario. He never passed the warning on to his security establishment, according to the report. An Emirati source familiar with the conversation separately confirmed the call to the Times of Israel.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office called the reports “false” and said, “No warning was given to the Prime Minister from the United Arab Emirates before October 7.” It added, “If there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries.” The UAE Foreign Ministry declined to confirm or deny, saying it does not comment on speculation about conversations between leaders. It noted that Israel and the UAE have kept “open and direct lines of communication” and that “all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated.”

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi both told Haaretz they were never informed of the call. Senior officials who sat in on pre-attack security discussions told Israel’s Channel 12 the same thing, with one calling the warning critical.

This all comes as Israelis head to the polls next month and Netanyahu’s opposition is seizing on the report to argue he is unfit for office. Party leaders Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan issued a joint statement demanding an immediate investigation into what Netanyahu knew and why he did not warn the security establishment. Bennett, a former prime minister, said the report is true and that Netanyahu “bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch.”

Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff now leading Netanyahu in security polling, wrote that “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings about October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit for office.”