Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot claimed Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was receiving the same accumulating intelligence available to senior security officials beginning at around 3:30 a.m. on October 7, roughly three hours before Hamas launched its massacre.

Speaking at a Ynet conference, Eisenkot said Netanyahu’s intelligence aide was receiving reports reflecting the intelligence picture that was also before the IDF chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet.

Asked directly whether the prime minister’s intelligence adviser knew at 3:30 a.m. that unusual activity was taking place in Gaza, Eisenkot replied, “Absolutely. I say this from knowledge.” He argued that Netanyahu should examine why an office he built allegedly failed to pass such significant information directly to him.

Netanyahu has maintained that he was not awakened or informed before the attack began. Eisenkot did not claim that Netanyahu personally received the intelligence at 3:30 a.m.; his allegation was specifically that Netanyahu’s office and intelligence aide were receiving the developing intelligence picture hours before the attack.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)