Evidence

Multiple independent, reputable news outlets — including The Times of Israel, Ynetnews, NPR, The Jerusalem Post, The Media Line, i24NEWS, and AllIsraelNews — have reported extensively and consistently on Sufian Abu Zaida's account. Abu Zaida, a former Palestinian Authority minister identified as the intermediary "Coal Eyes" in a Haaretz investigation, publicly displayed a handwritten note in a televised interview on Egypt's Al-Ghad TV (and in a documentary on Al-Rad) that he says Yahya Sinwar dictated to him word-for-word on September 14, 2023, during secret prisoner-exchange talks. The note reportedly stated that before the end of September there would be 'an earthquake' in negotiations and that Israel should prepare to empty its prisons. Abu Zaida says he passed this message to Israeli security contacts, who later questioned him urgently about its meaning. These details are consistent across all outlets reviewed, and the account aligns with earlier reporting by Yedioth Ahronoth/Ynet journalist Ronen Bergman on intelligence Israel reportedly received in mid-September 2023. No dedicated fact-checking organization (Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo) verdict on this specific claim was found in available searches, and no outlet reported independent forensic verification of the note's authenticity — the account rests on Abu Zaida's own testimony and the note he displayed on camera.