US Envoy: No Warning Before October 7 Hamas Attack

Brett McGurk, who served as former President Joe Biden's special envoy to the Middle East, said in an interview with i24NEWS that neither the United States nor Israel had any advance intelligence warning of the Hamas surprise attack on October 7, 2023. According to McGurk, after the terror attack, all intelligence available beforehand was re-examined, but no indicators or evidence were found that pointed to what was about to happen.

"We had no warning, and the Israelis had no warning from what they told us," McGurk stated. He said that checks conducted with other senior counterparts in the region revealed that no one held advance information about the planned attack.

Against this backdrop, McGurk called on the State of Israel to establish an official commission of inquiry similar to the 9/11 Commission in the United States. According to him, such a commission's role would be to examine what exactly the senior echelons knew, what was missed, and why potential information was not passed up the chain of command.

The remarks come amid recurring discussions and reports claiming that officials in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates passed general warnings to Israel in the months before the massacre. These claims have been firmly rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his office.

McGurk, who served as the American administration's envoy to the Middle East, met several times during the war with senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. In these meetings, the ground operation in Gaza, the hostage issue, and humanitarian aid to civilians were discussed.

Former President Biden dispatched McGurk to the Middle East multiple times during the war to advance a hostage deal and negotiate with mediators. The American envoy is considered one of the central figures in the administration's attempts to reach agreements in the region.

The call to establish a commission of inquiry joins similar demands voiced in Israel from various quarters in the public and political arena. The question of what intelligence and military officials knew before the attack, and why appropriate warning mechanisms were not activated, continues to occupy the Israeli public.