Gallant says Shin Bet received Sinwar ‘quake’ warning before Oct. 7, but misread its meaning

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant stated that the Shin Bet received a warning from Hamas in September 2023 that leader Yahya Sinwar would 'cause the prisons to quake,' but security officials misinterpreted it as relating to a possible prisoner exchange for Elizabeth Tsurkov, not an impending attack. Gallant also said he was unaware of reported Emirati and Egyptian warnings to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that Israel received a broad warning from Hamas before the October 7, 2023, attack, but security officials misinterpreted it. Speaking to Army Radio, Gallant said Hamas sources passed a message to the Shin Bet in September 2023 that then-leader Yahya Sinwar 'will cause the prisons to quake.' The security establishment assessed the message concerned a possible prisoner exchange involving Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher kidnapped by a Shiite militia in Iraq. Gallant said this was the only such message received before the attack. He also said he was unaware at the time of reported Emirati and Egyptian warnings to Prime Minister Netanyahu, learning of them only from recent media coverage. Gallant argued that if the reports were accurate and the information was not shared with the security establishment, it would amount to 'a very serious flaw in the overall assessment.' He noted that had then-IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi known of the warnings, it could have affected his interpretation of signs emerging on October 6 and 7. Gallant also said he sometimes learned of sensitive exchanges involving Netanyahu only after US officials contacted him to verify what the prime minister had told them.