Egypt is trying to have a "told ya so" moment, as on Monday the government said that Egyptian intelligence tried to repeatedly communicate to Israel that 'something big' was coming, prior to the massive jihadist militant attack out of Gaza which killed hundreds of Israelis.
A top Egyptian official was cited in Israeli media as saying, "Egypt cautioned about the situation's escalation, but unfortunately, these warnings were disregarded by Israel."
The official said the warning communicated to the Israeli government was that "something big" was in the planning stages, but didn't elaborate further.
Egypt frequently plays the role of mediator between Hamas and Israeli authorities, so this fresh statement is being taken seriously by Israeli pundits.
According to more via The Times of Israel:
"We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media, told The Associated Press.
BREAKING — Egyptian Intelligence Minister called Netanyahu ten days before Hamas attack and warned him of "something unusual, a terrible operation" that was about to take place from Gaza.
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 9, 2023
Egyptians were "surprised by the indifference shown by Netanyahu".
— Yedioth Ahranoth pic.twitter.com/7AcIkSmKnB
As of Monday, the total death toll among both sides has soared past 1,100. Currently, Israel's military is engaged in its biggest bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip in history, having also declared a total 'seizure' and blockade in progress.
Qatar has said it is seeking to mediate, also on the question of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity. Likely Egypt is also seeking to engage both sides as the situation continues to deteriorate.
Al-Jazeera has acquired footage showing the complete and rapid capture of the Erez military base in the Gaza envelope pic.twitter.com/iYojF4jG03
— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) October 8, 2023
Meanwhile, there's ongoing speculation as a to how such a major Hamas operation, clearly long in planning, was "missed".