Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv's Habima Square after The Atlantic reported that Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Israel eleven days before October 7, 2023, carrying a warning that "עזה תתפוצץ לכם בפנים" (Gaza will explode in your face) if Israel did not change course [3][12][21][23]. Haaretz and the New York Times separately reported that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan phoned Benjamin Netanyahu in late September 2023 with a similar warning that was not passed to Israel's security chiefs [12][19][24]. Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he had no knowledge of the reported UAE and Egypt warnings and first learned of them through the media [26].

Netanyahu's office denied receiving warnings from either the UAE or Egypt, calling the allegations baseless and recycled to manipulate public opinion ahead of elections [12][22]. The Prime Minister's Office statement also noted that Egypt officially denied warning Israel on October 11, 2023 [22]. Netanyahu adviser Topaz Luk dismissed the Haaretz report as "election-season noise," saying: "Es gab kein solches Gespräch, keine solche Warnung wurde ausgesprochen" (There was no such conversation, no such warning was issued) [12]. The Likud party called the reports a "flood of false publications by enlisted leftist journalists" aimed at toppling the right [25]. Netanyahu announced a defamation suit against Haaretz [12].

Einav Zangauker, mother of former hostage Matan Zangauker, accused Netanyahu of lying: "Everyone is lying, and only you are telling the truth?" [3]. Relatives of those killed or taken captive on October 7 issued a joint statement accusing Israel's political leadership of covering up its responsibility for the attack [3]. Families of victims established a protest sukkah in Hostages Square, where Gil Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, who was killed in captivity, said the cost of abandonment was 2,000 graves and that anyone who had their hand on the wheel must be removed from public life [33]. Gadi Eisenkot visited the protest and promised a state commission of inquiry in the first weeks of a new government [33].

Five opposition leaders — Yaïr Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Liberman, and Yaïr Golan — met at Lapid's Tel Aviv home and signed a three-part agreement for mutual non-aggression, a state commission of inquiry into October 7, and equality in military service [11]. Bennett said the bloc could win 63 seats and that the parties agreed to "fully cooperate until the election, on election day, and after the election, with the aim of forming a government that will fix Israel" [13]. Netanyahu responded by posting an AI-altered photo suggesting Eisenkot would form a government with Arab parties and that "only a strong Likud will stop them" [13].

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu flew privately to Abu Dhabi and met with bin Zayed, with Iran described as the main focus of talks [1][4][5]. Channel 12 and KAN reported that Netanyahu traveled on a private plane owned by an unnamed Israeli businessman and returned the same evening [16][19]. Leaked documents described expanded defense cooperation including air-defense systems and drones supplied by Israeli companies Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, worth hundreds of millions of shekels, with Israeli experts permanently stationed in the UAE [28]. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Israel sent Iron Dome systems to the UAE to help counter Iranian attacks [27].

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected reports of the visit as baseless, saying relations with Israel are public and conducted under the Abraham Accords [27]. An unnamed UAE official source told Anadolu Agency that security matters are discussed through relevant agencies, not at leaders' level [3][19]. Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE president, said the UAE remains committed to diplomacy but retains the right to self-defense, and that Arab-Iranian relations in the Gulf cannot be built on confrontation [27]. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Netanyahu's visit confirmed what Iran's security agencies had long told the country's leadership and warned that "همکاری با اسرائیل «بخشودنی نیست»" (cooperation with Israel is unforgivable) [27].

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed that the 1,234-unit E1 settlement tender near Ma'ale Adumim, worth approximately 600 million shekels, be postponed because it could improperly influence election results eight days later [29]. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is advancing the tender in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office, which had previously blocked it on diplomatic grounds [29]. The EU's High Representative said the E1 plan is illegal under international law, divides the West Bank in two, and isolates East Jerusalem [30]. The International Commission of Jurists called on Israel to halt the plan, citing the International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion and the UN Secretary-General's warning that the project is an existential threat to the two-state solution [31].

Israeli settler representative Yossi Dagan and Slovenian Foreign Minister Tone Kajzer toasted with settlement-produced wine at the opening of Israel's embassy in Ljubljana, in defiance of British, French, and Canadian trade bans on settlement goods [7]. El País reported that Israel is realigning its foreign policy toward ideologically aligned populist and nationalist governments, with Nauru opening an embassy in Jerusalem and former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa annulling Slovenia's arms embargo on Israel [7]. Nimrod Goren of the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies said security alliances do not translate into broader international integration, and a global opinion index placed Israel as the world's worst-rated country [7].

Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered a weeklong closure of the West Bank for the Sukkot holiday, barring Palestinian workers from entering Israeli settlements [9][32]. Construction worker Ahmed Ouda from Tulkarm said he had worked inside the Green Line for over twenty years but had not found a day of work since the closure, accumulating debts [35]. The General Federation of Palestinian Workers reported 507,000 unemployed, with 89% of Palestinian workers lacking social protection [35]. In southern Lebanon, Israeli strikes continue and negotiations have stalled since early August, with the UN counting more than 360,000 still displaced [17]. Nabatiyeh mayor Abbas Fakhreddine said he cannot ask residents to return because there is no real sense of security [17].

Türkiye's Foreign Ministry condemned raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremist groups under the protection of Israeli forces [15]. Hamas political bureau member Khaled Meshaal warned that Israeli measures around Al-Aqsa — including a reported 40-day closure and the imposition of temporal and spatial division — were "paving the way for total control and domination over the site" and called for a "strategy of resistance and jihad" [20]. Greek opposition parties criticized Prime Minister Mitsotakis for hosting Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant, with New Left General Secretary Gabriel Sakellaridis saying "Yunanistan için daha büyük utanç yok" (There is no greater shame for Greece) [8].

The October 27 election approaches with the opposition bloc coordinating while Netanyahu frames the contest as a battle between Likud and an alliance he says would include Arab parties [11][13]. The E1 tender remains postponed by the attorney general's directive [29]. The Gaza Health Ministry reported the death toll at 74,018 since October 7, 2023, with 1,417 killed since the ceasefire took effect [34].