The Israeli military on Monday said the chief of its intelligence unit has resigned after taking responsibility for intelligence failures leading to the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 last year.
Israel’s military intelligence directorate Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while roughly 250 were taken hostages in Gaza. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel set off a war against the outfit in Gaza, now in its seventh month.
“The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the pain with me forever,” Haliva wrote in his resignation letter.
Here’s all you need to know:
- Earlier, Israel’s military intelligence chief Haliva had publicly said that he shouldered the blame for not preventing the assault as the head of the military department responsible for providing the government and the military with intelligence warnings and daily alerts.
- He’s the first senior Israeli official to step down over the assault by Hamas.
- Israel’s military intelligence, as well as other military and security leaders, were widely expected to resign in response to the glaring failures that led up to Oct. 7 and the scale of its ferocity.
- But the timing of the resignations has been unclear because Israel is still fighting Hamas in Gaza and battling the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Tensions with Iran are also at a high following attack between the two enemies.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet not indicated that he will step down. The Israeli prime minister has said he will answer tough questions about his role but has not outright acknowledged direct responsibility for allowing the attack to unfold.
- The attack set off the devastating war between Israel and Hamas that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials.
- The Israel and Hamas war has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities, and driven 80% of the territory’s population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
- The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 caught Israel and its security establishment entirely off guard. Israelis’ sense of faith in their military — seen by most Jews as one of the country’s most trustworthy institutions — was shattered in the face of Hamas’ onslaught.
- In the recent past, there have been growing protests in Israel calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 events and resign.
- Some Israeli media has reported that the US is likely to impose sanctions on Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion over its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank
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Published: 22 Apr 2024, 02:48 PM IST