“The army intelligence directorate underneath my command didn’t reside as much as our mission,” Haliva stated in a letter shared by the Israel Protection Forces on Monday. He stated he has “been carrying that black day ever since, day and evening. I’ll reside with the horrible ache of the struggle daily.”
Hamas deliberate for the extremely coordinated assault for greater than a 12 months, constructing its battle plans from open supply supplies and repeatedly drilling its troops, Israeli investigators stated in November. Israeli intelligence did not detect these preparations and didn’t heed warning indicators that emerged within the hours earlier than the assault, early evaluations discovered.
The assault surprised Israelis and instantly raised questions in regards to the nation’s intelligence and protection capabilities. The Washington Submit reported final 12 months that regardless of info coming to gentle in August that an assault was imminent, warnings have been dismissed, and the communities on the Israeli facet of the border have been by no means notified a couple of risk.
Army leaders in March launched a preliminary assessment of the military’s efficiency on Oct. 7, which left some cities combating on their very own for hours. And specialists say they anticipate there ultimately to be a proper, unbiased investigation of all points of the disaster alongside the traces of the 9/11 Fee in the USA after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist assaults.
However these efforts have been largely deferred as Israel continues to battle Hamas in Gaza and fend off missile assaults from Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
Politics, too, are taking part in a job. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assist has plummeted amid anger that Israel’s longest-serving chief failed to stop the assaults. Many Israelis have known as on him to resign, both now or when the struggle has wound down. With combating easing in Gaza, a majority of Israelis stated the time had come for these accountable to step down, in keeping with a survey revealed final week by the Israel Democracy Institute.
Netanyahu has deflected questions on his personal duty and insisted formal inquiries wait till a later date.
The resignation of Haliva, who titled his announcement “Accountability and Termination of Place,” was seen by some as an indication that momentum for accountability was constructing.
“Together with authority comes heavy duty,” opposition chief Yair Lapid stated in submit on X Monday, praising Haliva’s resignation as “justified and honorable. It might have been acceptable for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the identical.”
The prime minister’s workplace declined to remark.
Haliva’s resignation had been long-expected. The 38-year veteran of the Israel Protection Forces publicly took duty for the intelligence failures 10 days after the assaults.
Haliva had been given an in depth briefing in Could 2022 on findings that pointed to a large-scale Hamas assault, in keeping with a report by Israel’s public broadcasting community. On the day of the assault, intelligence screens detected Israeli SIM playing cards activated by Hamas, resulting in a state of affairs evaluation name with the army chief of workers. Haliva was on trip in southern Israel and didn’t take part on this name, in keeping with the Israeli media.
He introduced in November that he would step down as quickly because the progress of the struggle in Gaza allowed, reportedly telling colleagues his “days have been numbered,” in keeping with native media studies.
The tempo of combating in Gaza — which has killed greater than 34,000 Palestinian in six months, in keeping with Gaza well being authorities — has eased in latest weeks. Whereas Israel stated it intends to return for an assault on the ultimate Hamas stronghold in southern Gaza, it has for now pulled most troops from the enclave.
“Time has elapsed and the struggle is being slightly bit much less forcefully fought and [Haliva] is definitely the primary one to take duty for what occurred,” stated Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of army intelligence analysis. “Folks take a look at it this and ask, ‘Who’s subsequent?’”
Haliva will formally depart the position as soon as his successor is appointed, the IDF stated.
A deep assessment of the Oct. 7 intelligence failures is important, stated Kuperwasser, who now heads the Institute for the Analysis of the Methodology of Intelligence. Indicators that ought to have alerted the analysts have been missed, and a few within the system didn’t communicate up and a few officers discounted warnings from their juniors.
“That they had doubts and so they stated ‘we don’t to be seen as crying wolf,’” he stated. “The system wants a stage of humility. Should you don’t know for certain, cry wolf. Look what can occur once you don’t.”
Hassan reported from London.
