Dismissing Warning About Hamas Attack Plan, PM Netanyahu Calls Opposite Leader Lapid Lying

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Source: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)

JAKARTA - The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) accused opposition leader Yair Lapid of lying, after he claimed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored warning signs ahead of the Hamas-led militant group attack.

"Yair Lapid lied again. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not receive any warning about the war in Gaza, not a month earlier and not even an hour before October 7th. What happened was the opposite and the protocol proved it," PMO claimed in a statement responding to Lapid's testimony before the independent civil investigation commission for the attack. August 29.

"Lapid, who brought workers from Gaza and gave free gas to (hezbollah Hassan leader) Nasrallah while promising it would prevent war, was the last person to preach in terms of security," the statement added.

As previously reported, Lapid said in his testimony that he received a security briefing from the Head of Shin Bet Ronen Bar, which provided an "unprecedented warning" about the "security consequences of the coup and internal rifts it caused, the night before Knesset voted to pass the so-called law of fairness in July 2023.

Rejecting the government's claim not to accept the previous warning that Hamas was no longer unstoppable, Lapid said "the government was indeed notified. I was informed and the intelligence I saw was of course also seen by the prime minister and cabinet ministers.

"Over the months leading up to the disaster, the prime minister and cabinet ministers received a series of unprecedented serious warnings. Since mid-2023, more and more voices in terrorist organizations have been saying that the times they have been waiting for have arrived," he explained.

It is known that about 1,200 people were killed and 250 others arrested as hostages, as a result of an attack by a militant group led by Hamas into Israel's southern region on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli calculations.

That was replied to by Israel's land and air operations. Citing WAFA, the number of Palestinian casualties since the latest conflict broke out in Gaza on October 7 has reached 40,534 people, while the injured reached 93,778 people. The majority of victims were women and children.