Who knew what?
A summary of things that happened in the week before the bloodshed in Israel:
- Ten days before the killing of innocent civilians, Egypt warned Israel.
According to a senior Egyptian source, about ten days before Hamas’s surprise attack on Israeli territory, the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, General Abbas Kamel, contacted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, warning of “something unusual, a terrible operation” that was about to take place from the direction of Gaza.
- Four days before the attack, western allies said they are running out of ammunition for Ukraine.
Western military powers are running out of ammunition to give Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion, the UK and Nato have warned.
Adm Rob Bauer, Nato’s most senior military official, told the Warsaw Security Forum that “the bottom of the barrel is now visible”.
UK Defence Minister James Heappey told the forum that Western military stockpiles were “looking a bit thin” and urged Nato allies to spend 2% of their national wealth on defence, as they had committed to do.
Swedish Defence Minister Pol Jonson said it was vital for Europe to get its defence industrial base in shape to support Ukraine for the long term. “Because we’re digging pretty deep now into our pockets, into our stocks,” he said.
Analysts say that in contrast, Russia appears much more able to gear up its wartime economy to replenish its own stockpiles.
- Four days before the attack, a number of European countries appeared to have a change of heart over supporting Ukraine.
