From the Liveblog of
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Gallant: Hamas warned that Sinwar ‘will cause prisons to quake’ before October 7
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
A broad warning from Hamas reached Israel before the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, Yoav Gallant, who was defense minister at the time, tells Army Radio.
Sources in the terror group passed a message to the Shin Bet intelligence agency that “Sinwar will cause the prisons to quake,” Gallant says, stressing that it was the only message to reach the Shin Bet in the lead-up to October 7.
According to Gallant, the security establishment assessed that it had to do with a possible prisoner exchange for Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli researcher kidnapped by a Shiite militia in Iraq earlier that year.
Gallant’s comments come as multiple reports have said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warnings via Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in the leadup to the attack. He says he has been hearing about those warnings “from the media” and was not informed of them at the time.
A former Palestinian Authority minister has said he conveyed a warning about an “earthquake” to Shin Bet officials.
The Times of Israel Community.