Israeli opposition leader Lapid says Netanyahu was warned about Hamas

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid rejected claims made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Israeli leader had received no warnings of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement's planned attack, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

"I want to refute the statement that is made time and time again by the current government that, somehow, the political echelon was not aware that Hamas was not deterred," Lapid told the paper.

"It was indeed informed. I was informed," he said, adding that the intelligence material he saw "was of course, also seen by the prime minister and ministers of the Cabinet."

"It was clear what they [Hamas] wanted," he said.

Lapid said he attended a security briefing on August 21, 2023, with Netanyahu and military adviser Major General Avi Gil who warned about Iran's so-called "axis of resistance" - proxy fronts in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.

He said he thought the information was "extraordinary" but to him Netanyahu "seemed bored and indifferent to the subject and did not comment on it."

Netanyahu's right-wing conservative Likud party shot back at Lapid.

"Yair Lapd is lying again," it said, saying that Netanyahu had received no warning whatsoever before October 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 and taking about 250 hostage.