Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong backlash from opposition leaders on Tuesday after a report published by Haaretz newspaper said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation days before the attacks on October 7. The report alleges that Netanyahu failed to inform security chiefs.

Israeli opposition leaders on Tuesday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to serve after a report that the United Arab Emirates had warned him before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Haaretz newspaper, in a report excerpted from a forthcoming book by its reporters, said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke to Netanyahu a week and a half before the attack and told him that Hamas was planning a major operation.

Netanyahu’s office called the report by the left-leaning newspaper “an absolute lie” and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former military commander who has emerged as Netanyahu’s top rival in upcoming October 27 elections, accused the long-serving prime minister of evading responsibility for security lapses and resorting to “pathetic” excuses, such as saying he was not woken up soon enough on the morning of the attack.

“Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit,” Eisenkot wrote on X.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister also running in elections, said Netanyahu “bears personal and direct responsibility” for the deaths on October 7, the deadliest attack in Israeli history.

“Netanyahu cannot continue to serve in his position for even one more minute,” Bennett said.

Haaretz said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, later killed by Israel, had warned a former Palestinian official that the militants were preparing “a terrifying operation” which he described as an “earthquake”.

Read More: UAE leader warned Netanyahu of Hamas attack days before October 7, says report