2016 prophecy on Hamas attack came true in 2023 and Netanyahu knew

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned about the Hamas attack in December 2016, claimed the country’s former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman, who is a leader of Israel’s opposition party - Yisrael Beytenu, had drafted an 11-page document and gave it to Netanyahu, warning Hamas would attack in “precisely the way it did” on October 7. The part of the detailed document was published by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily on Monday. As per the excerpt, Lieberman claimed to have warned of Hamas plans to invade into the Gaza border, overrun communities in southern Israel, staging massacres and taking hostages. Most of what was mentioned in the draft was strangely similar to Hamas’ October 7 onslaught. It also indicates that for several years, Israeli officials had been aware of the potential for such a Hamas assault, but apparently did not take the warnings seriously enough. On October 7, around 2,500 Palestinian terrorists barged into Israel by land, sea, and air, killing more than 1,400 people, a majority of them civilians, in their homes and at an outdoor music festival. Hamas and allied terrorist groups also dragged at least 239 hostages — including some 30 children — back to the Gaza Strip, where they remain captive. In the document, which Lieberman labeled as top secret, he said: “Hamas intends to take the conflict into Israeli territory by sending a significant number of well trained forces (like the Nukhba [commandos] for example) into Israel to try and capture an Israeli community (or maybe even several communities) on the Gaza border and take hostages,” Liberman wrote in the document, which was labeled top secret." “Beyond the physical harm to the people, this will also lead to significant harm to the morale and feelings of the citizens of Israel,” he had said. Lieberman recalled that he had persuaded Netanyahu to raise the issue at a Cabinet meeting, where the document was “waved away dismissively,” including by security chiefs. Also, Lieberman alleged that he was made to feel “arrogant” for having presented it. With inputs from agencies