Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday offered his condolences to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on the death of his younger brother.

The death earlier in the day of Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi ruler’s representative, set off three days of mourning in the Gulf state. 

“President Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the passing of your brother, Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. May you find comfort in his memory and may you and your family know no more sorrow,” Netanyahu wrote in a Twitter post.

Netanyahu lost his older brother Lt. Col. Jonathan Netanyahu in 1976 when he was the only IDF fatality in the Entebbe rescue mission in Uganda. 

The Presidential Court ordered flags to be flown at half-mast across the UAE’s seven emirates until Saturday.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations in 2020 as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords and the coordination between the two countries has flourished in the subsequent years. 

In May, Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog received invitations to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, scheduled to run from Nov. 30 through Dec. 12.

It would be Netanyahu’s first official visit to the United Arab Emirates.

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