The first warning was given by Abu Mazen to Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018, after the talks between Fatah and Hamas collapsed a few months before. Abu Mazen conveyed to Netanyahu the message that "the Hamas movement will betray you if you make agreements with it and transfer money to it through Qatar, help us reduce the power of Hamas."  Abu Mazen ordered the second warning to be delivered to Israel on October 5, after his men in the Gaza Strip informed their managers in Ramallah that Hamas was preparing to attack Israel. We do not know for sure that the warning was delivered to the Shin Bet, and not to another Israeli agency. A Palestinian source told us that "the only body with which the authority works officially in coordination with Israel is the Shin Bet, and therefore I am convinced that the warning was delivered to the Shin Bet and not to another Israeli body."

By Mati Cohen

A senior Palestinian source in the Fatah organization told us at the end of the week that Abu Mazen warned Benjamin Netanyahu against a Hamas attack, twice during the last seven years. For the first time, Abu Mazen warned Benjamin Netanyahu, in 2018, after negotiations between Fatah and Hamas, for cooperation in Palestinian politics, collapsed. Following Hamas's demand during the negotiations with Fatah, to recognize its victory in the 2007 elections, As his election as the sole legal leader of the Palestinian people, in a way that subordinates Fatah and the other Palestinian organizations to the leadership of Hamas in the PLO.

Following the collapse of the negotiations, Abu Mazen decided in 2017 to reduce the power of Hamas. He ordered a halt to the salaries paid to Hamas members in the Gaza Strip, and ordered the Palestinian Authority to stop paying the Israeli Electricity Company for the electricity it supplies to the Gaza Strip. A few months later, Benjamin Netanyahu decided to allow the transfer of Qatari money, directly to Hamas. The money was transferred in suitcases several times a year, with each suitcase containing about 15 million dollars in cash.

"This money saved Hamas from the predicament into which Abu Mazen put it," said the source.

Following this, the source said, Abu Mazen turned to Benjamin Netanyahu (not directly) and warned him that an agreement with Hamas would not last, and that the organization intended to attack Israel.

Despite this warning, the source told us, the Israeli policy that strengthened Hamas continued, using the luggage from Qatar.

The second time Abu Mazen ordered Israel to be warned of a Hamas attack was on October 5, 2023, two days before the attack on southern Israel. The warning was conveyed to Ramallah by the Palestinian Authority personnel who are in the Gaza Strip. PA employees in Gaza reported to their managers in Ramallah that "Hamas intends to attack Israel." At the beginning of the war, we reported here that PA employees stationed in the Gaza Strip reported that the Hamas leadership had ordered the collection of the phones of all members of the organization, and a warning to that effect was also delivered to the Shin Bet on the eve of the attack.

Following the warning by PA workers in Gaza, Abu Mazen ordered a warning to Israel about the expected attack. In our estimation, the warning was transmitted through the official channels, that is, through the Shin Bet. But we do not know this for sure. The source's assessment is the same as our assessment, although as mentioned he also does not know this for sure.