Shin Bet warned Netanyahu of incoming war in July 2023: Report

Israel's internal intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would almost certainly face a war in the near future back in July 2023, Yedioth Ahronoth reports.

The report comes after Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid delivered his testimony to a civilian enquiry into the failures of 7 October on Thursday.

Lapid said that Netanyahu was warned by security officials on multiple occasions that internal political issues and government policies were jeopardising Israel's deterrence capabilities.

The report says that Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, had requested to meet with Netanyahu a day before his government voted in favour of a highly controversial judicial overhaul legislation.

Yedioth Ahronoth says that, however, Bar was likely speaking of a potential war with Lebanon's Hezbollah or a third intifada in the West Bank, rather than a conflict with Hamas in Gaza.