Haaretz published extracts from Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval alleging the United Arab Emirates warned Mr Netanyahu in late September that Yahya Sinwar, then Hamas chief in Gaza, was preparing an operation described to sources as an "earthquake". The paper said its account rested on three foreign senior sources and a Palestinian adviser to the Emirati president, and it reported that an embassy representative used a secure phone for the call.
Netanyahu's office denied the report, saying "no warning was given to the prime minister from the United Arab Emirates before 7 October" and labelling the article part of a "sinister plot". Haaretz has stood by its reporting and rejected the defamation threat, arguing the article grew from lengthy investigations "based on multiple sources and documents" and saying attempts to sue are aimed at silencing criticism.
The Haaretz material also reported that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan shared the alleged warning afterwards with then CIA director William J Burns, and it said Mr Netanyahu did not inform the heads of Shin Bet, Mossad or the army chief of staff about the conversation. Those claims revive scrutiny of decisions taken in the run-up to the 7 October 2023 assault by Hamas-led gunmen, which the draft says killed about 1,200 people and left 251 taken hostage on that day.
Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza, the report noted, has produced greatly higher death tolls in the territory; according to the Hamas-run health ministry, at least 73,670 people have died. The publication of the Haaretz extracts produced immediate political fallout: the Likud party accused the paper of "blatant foreign interference in Israel's elections" and Mr Netanyahu wrote on X that the timing served "the left's election campaign".
Four opposition leaders, Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan, demanded an inquiry, saying "Netanyahu and his partners in the 7 October government are unfit to continue in office." The United Arab Emirates has not directly denied the Haaretz account, instead saying it has worked to de-escalate tensions and that "UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the inception of the relationship more than five years ago."
What happens next will shape both the courtroom fight and the election calendar: Haaretz has signalled it will defend its reporting, Mr Netanyahu has initiated a court process, and calls for a formal investigation are mounting as Israelis prepare to vote on 27 October.
