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Egypt's Spy Chief Reportedly Called Netanyahu With Third Pre-October 7 Warning

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of Abbas Kamel speaking with Mike Pompeo and another official at a 2018 U.S. State Department meeting; archival context, not the reported pre-October 7 call, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

New reporting says former Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel telephoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days before Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack, adding a disputed direct call to accounts of earlier Egyptian warnings. The reports describe two earlier alerts, one in June about rising volatility in Gaza and another associated with Kamel's September visit, followed by warnings continuing to roughly 48 hours before the assault. The accounts say the messages did not specify a date, targets or the scale of an attack. Netanyahu's office has denied that he spoke with or met Kamel in the months before October 7.

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