October 17, 2024, seemed like just another day at the Pentagon until a sudden request came from then-defense minister Yoav Gallant to speak to his US counterpart at the time, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“It was morning in Washington, and we received a request for an urgent phone call, so we worked quickly to make the arrangements,” recalls Daniel (Dan) Shapiro, then-deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

This is the first time Shapiro, or any other senior US official, has been willing to discuss in detail the behind-the-scenes events in Washington on the day Hezbollah’s pagers exploded.