The United Arab Emirates has rejected claims that President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible Hamas attack before October 7, 2023.
An official UAE source issued the response on Saturday, calling into question reports that suggested a direct warning had been delivered by the Emirati leader in the weeks before the attack.
The statement was provided in response to questions from a state-owned English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi. According to the official, security matters between countries are handled through the appropriate institutions and agencies rather than through direct discussions between national leaders.
The source said the UAE discusses security issues through relevant channels and does not address such operational details at the level of heads of state. The statement was widely viewed as a rejection of reports that a direct warning had been conveyed to Netanyahu.
The response comes after controversy surrounding an investigation published earlier this month. The report claimed that about a week and a half before the October 7 attack, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed contacted Netanyahu and warned him that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a significant move against Israel.
According to the report, the conversation reportedly lasted around 45 minutes. It also claimed that the information was not passed on to senior members of Israel’s security establishment.
The allegations quickly generated debate because of the continuing scrutiny surrounding intelligence failures before the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office strongly denied the report after it was published. Officials stated that no conversation took place between Netanyahu and the UAE president during the period mentioned in the report.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said Netanyahu never received any warning from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed regarding a possible Hamas operation.
Netanyahu later announced plans to pursue legal action against the newspaper and the journalists involved in the investigation. The Israeli leader said the report was false and defamatory.
The latest statement from Abu Dhabi is the clearest public response issued by the UAE since the allegations first emerged.
Earlier this month, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a more limited statement regarding the controversy. At that time, officials neither confirmed nor denied whether any communication had taken place between the two leaders.
Instead, the ministry stated that it does not comment on reports or speculation involving private discussions between heads of government and state leaders.
The ministry also emphasized that communication channels remain open between the UAE and Israel. Officials noted that security and intelligence information can be exchanged through the appropriate institutions whenever necessary.
That earlier response left room for continued speculation about whether discussions had occurred before the Hamas attack.
The new statement appears to take a firmer position by directly rejecting suggestions that a warning was delivered by the UAE president to the Israeli prime minister.
The issue remains sensitive because questions about intelligence gathering and threat assessments before October 7 continue to be debated in Israel and beyond.
The Hamas attack resulted in one of the most significant security crises in Israeli history and led to a major military conflict in Gaza. Since then, investigators, political leaders and media organizations have examined whether warning signs were missed before the attack took place.
The report involving the UAE added another dimension to those discussions by suggesting that information may have existed before the assault.
However, both the UAE and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office have rejected the central claim that a warning was personally delivered from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to Netanyahu.
As public debate continues, officials from both governments maintain that security cooperation and intelligence exchanges occur through established professional channels rather than through direct operational discussions between national leaders.
The UAE Netanyahu warning claim remains a subject of public interest, but the latest statement from Abu Dhabi reinforces the country’s position that no such leader-to-leader warning was provided before the events of October 7, 2023.
