A former senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a damning interview that the Israeli leader had been internally warned about the possibility of war ahead of the October 7 attack, and that a “huge gap” remained between what the public knew and what actually happened.
On the morning of the deadliest attack in history, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil woke up the Israeli prime minister. His comments added fresh pressure just weeks before a crucial election that will decide Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political future.
Gil, who served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s deputy military secretary from July 2021 to May 2024, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News that “over the course of several weeks, the documents were submitted and defense officials were portraying a reality in which the enemy was seeing divisions in Israeli society, perceived weaknesses, and Israel’s deterrence eroded.”
Gil said there had been no specific warning of a major attack from Gaza, but Israeli security officials said they understood Israel’s adversaries saw an opportunity as protests spread across the country and social rifts widened.
“Are we beginning to recognize within the security services a decline in deterrence and a change in the enemy’s view of the state of Israel? The clear answer is yes, and this was communicated at all levels,” Gill said.
This first-hand account adds to a series of reports that in the weeks and months leading up to October 7, 2023, Prime Minister Netanyahu received both general and specific warnings about a possible Hamas attack from Gaza.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported in early September that the United Arab Emirates leader called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly to warn him of a major Hamas operation days before the attack. Around the same time, Egypt’s information minister personally flew to Israel and told Prime Minister Netanyahu that Hamas was preparing a major attack, The Atlantic reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied these reports, calling Haaretz’s story “a complete lie.”
Mr. Gil’s account differs because it comes from within the highest levels of the Israeli government. As Netanyahu’s military aide, Gil attended security cabinet meetings with the prime minister and had access to important communications before the war began.
It was Mr. Gil who called Netanyahu to wake him up on the morning of the attack, before contacting him via a secure “red phone.” At exactly 6:41 a.m., 12 minutes after the Hamas-led offensive began, he told Netanyahu in no uncertain terms: “We are at war,” he said.
“Avi Gil, like everyone else, knew about the impending attack and chose not to wake the prime minister in time. Mr. Gil’s interview is an attempt to obscure the simple and painful truth about his own failed performance,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement following the interview.
Opposition politicians condemned Prime Minister Netanyahu after the meeting and called on the attorney general to investigate Mr Gil’s allegations. “The truth about October 7 is not Prime Minister Netanyahu’s private property,” said Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main challenger and former Israeli army chief of staff. “The people of Israel are entitled to the full truth, full accountability, and the pursuit of justice.”
Gil, like the head of the Israeli military unit responsible for the hostage crisis, said Prime Minister Netanyahu prioritized the stability of his country’s government over the return of hostages, including those who could have made it home alive. Mr. Gil recalled that Prime Minister Netanyahu may have been inclined to accept an earlier hostage deal, but that the government’s far-right ministers persuaded him otherwise.
“The families come up to me, and I sit with them. … There’s the word ‘survivor,’ and I think that’s terrible when you’re sitting across from people who have come back from that hell. And, yes, you know some of them could have come home sooner,” he said.
Gil said there is a “huge gap” between what Israelis know about what happened before and after October 7 and what actually happened. Prime Minister Netanyahu submitted a lengthy response to Israel’s watchdog about his actions around October 7, but Gil argued that the document “reflects only part of the picture.”
“What I saw doesn’t faithfully reflect everything that was said in that discussion,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect half the picture. I’m talking lies, half-truths, and it doesn’t reflect what I witnessed during my time as military chief.”
