Knesset Firestorm: MK Almog Cohen Claims Gaza Spy Warned of Terrorists at 3:30 A.M.

A major disclosure on the Knesset floor has reopened the painful debate regarding the intelligence failures that led to the October 7 massacre. Deputy Minister Almog Cohen of the Otzma Yehudit party stunned lawmakers on Wednesday by claiming that the Shin Bet possessed a high level human intelligence source inside the Gaza Strip who provided a specific warning hours before the attack began. According to Cohen, this source, known by the codename "Green Sardine," reported a massive gathering of Nukhba terrorists in Gaza mosques at approximately 3:30 a.m. that morning.

Cohen alleged that this critical piece of information was relayed directly to the source's handler in real time. He pointed out that this gathering occurred roughly two hours before the earliest Fajr prayer time, which should have served as a concrete, time stamped indicator of imminent operational movement. The Deputy Minister further claimed that while Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar convened senior division heads around that same hour, the specific intelligence regarding the gathering in the mosques was not passed on to the appropriate command centers where action could have been taken.

If these allegations are proven accurate, they would fundamentally challenge the long standing public narrative that there was no actionable human intelligence available from inside Gaza during the critical hours preceding the war. For over a year, official reports have suggested that security agencies were largely blind to the specific movements of Hamas terrorists until the breach of the border fence. Cohen’s testimony sharpens the questions that the Israeli public continues to demand answers to, specifically regarding who held this information and why it did not translate into an immediate military alert.

The Shin Bet has declined to comment on the remarks made by the Deputy Minister, and the details regarding the "Green Sardine" source have not been independently verified. However, the fact that such a detailed allegation was made on the Knesset floor is expected to add significant pressure on the government to establish a State Commission of Inquiry. The disclosure highlights a potential breakdown in the accountability chain during Israel's darkest morning and suggests that the failure was not a lack of information, but a failure to communicate and act upon specific warnings provided by sources deep within enemy territory.