The Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (FDI), Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has assumed his Total responsibility for army security failures before and during the attack of October 7, 2023, date on which the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) launched an unprecedented offensive against Israeli territory and unleashed the regional war.
“I have no problem, I assume my responsibility, it is mine. I am the commander of the FDI. I have my responsibility and I assume all your responsibility,” said Halevi. The Lieutenant General has made these statements before the senior officers of the Israeli army this Thursday, when Research on security failures have been made public that facilitated Hamas’s attacks.
IDF have admitted Thursday that Hamas’s attacks were a “complete failure” of national security and the result of many years of planning, preparation and deception by the Palestinian militias. The army has recognized the “failure in its mission of protecting people” and that the forces destined on the border with Gaza only covered the response to daily threats.
Hamas launched on October 7 an unprecedented attack against Israeli territory in which He killed almost 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage. Israel’s army responded with a bloody military offensive in the Gaza Strip that is already charged more than 48,300 dead, mostly women and children but also thousands of militiamen from Hamas.
The authorities underestimated Hamas
According to these investigations, Israeli military authorities underestimated Hamas for years, which helped the Islamist group carry out the attacks. The investigations focus on four pillars: The Israeli perception of military military capabilities in recent years, intelligence reports prior to October 7, decisions taken the night before the attacks and orders that were given to the soldiers that day, collects the newspaper The Times of Israel.
The Israeli army believed, before October 7, that Hamas was not interested in establishing a large -scale confrontation with Israel, and that It was not an important threat to the country. “The surprise was total,” says one of the investigations, according to Israeli media Ynet. Hamas, in fact, had considered launching the attacks at the end of 2022 and early 2023, but ended up postponing them until October to prepare its elite force, the Nujba, according to the reports.
During the night from October 6 to 7, The Israeli army came to identify five signals of “suspicious activity” On the part of the Islamist group, such as the simultaneous activation of SIM cards, but ended up discarding them all by considering that they probably were part of an exercise. Once the attacks began, the Israeli forces deployed next to the border were defeated with such speed that the central command did not know how serious the situation was until several hours later.
Investigations, which have not yet been presented to the public officially by the Army, treat only the military aspects of the attack, and not the political decisions that could contribute to the situation. The head of the Israeli General Staff, who will leave his position on March 6 for the failure of October 7, has said in his resignation speech that Public investigation on errors is needed that allowed Hamas’s attacks.
Netanyahu accuses the army of hiding the investigation
For its part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu, He has accused the Army on Thursday to hide the results of his investigations On the attacks of October 7, 2023. “These investigations were presented to the Minister of Defense, to the dome of the FDI and several journalists. Surprisingly, only one part has not received the investigations: the prime minister,” said the head of Netanyahu Cabinet, Tzachi Braverman, in a letter to the military authorities shared by the Prime Minister’s office.
The majority of Israeli society, even voters who support the current government coalition are in favor of establishing a public commission to investigate on October 7, according to surveys. Netanyahu, on the other hand, has decided to focus on the military investigations of attacks, refusing to consider the implementation of a process at the state level.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the outgoing chief of the General Staff Present before February 2025 all the Army’s internal investigations on October 7, And he said he will not approve the appointments of new generals until then. However, Halevi insists that a public investigation is needed on the errors that allowed Hamas’s attacks.
“Military investigations exclusively concern IDF and do not cover all reasons and the areas that could prevent the repetition of such events, “the person in charge of the media reiterated in January. Halevi said that a public commission of investigation or” any external actor “will receive the total cooperation of the army.
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