Egypt had warned Israel of a possible attack by Hamas “three days” before the militant groups launched its multi-pronged military operation, said Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days before that such an event could occur,” McCaul told the US Congress, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “The warning was there, but we don’t know at what level. We still don’t know how we (the US) missed this, we don’t know how Israel lost it,” McCaul told reporters after a “closed” session with government officials.

On Monday, an article in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet) reported that Egypt’s intelligence chief had warned Israel’s prime minister ten days before the Hamas attack, but Benjamin Netanyahu ignored the warning and downplayed the threat. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office called the report unsubstantiated.

We had warned of “something big”, but the Israelis had their minds elsewhere

“We had warned Israel about something big” but they had their minds elsewhere, an official of the Egyptian intelligence service told the Associated Press two days ago, adding more fuel to accusations against the failure of Israel’s intelligence services and military for being caught by surprise from Hamas.

According to the Egyptian official, the Israelis preferred to focus on the West Bank and downplayed the seriousness of the threat from Gaza. “We warned them that the situation will explode soon, and very soon at that, and that the explosion will be big. But they underestimated those warnings.”

The Egyptian government continues to maintain close communication with Israel and Hamas in an effort to avoid further escalation of clashes between the two sides and to ensure the protection of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants, two Egyptian security sources said.

Egypt has called on Israel to show restraint and on Hamas to ensure that the hostages are kept in good condition but also open to the possibility of a de-escalation soon.