Head of Israeli military intelligence resigns

Major General Aharon Haliva served in the IDF for 38 years

The head of Israel's military intelligence resigned on Monday after taking over accept responsibility for the failures that led to the October 7 massacre, in which about 1,200 Israelis died, most of them civilians.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Khaliwa is the first senior official to resign since the Hamas attack, but others are expected to follow suit in the country's military and intelligence community.

Maj. Gen. Khaliwa's resignation comes amid an ongoing Defense Forces investigation Israel (IDF) for its role in the most serious breach of Israeli security since the Yom Kippur War. exactly 50 years ago.

In his resignation letter, Major General Khaliwa, who served in the IDF for 38 years, accepted his share of responsibility for the failure to prevent the attack.

“The intelligence unit under my command did not live up to its objectives. the task we were entrusted with,” he wrote. “Since then I have carried this dark day with me. Day after day, night after night. I will forever carry with me the terrible pain of war.»

Although the IDF made serious mistakes, most notably by ignoring warnings made by female spotters in the days and hours leading up to the attack, there is little doubt that more serious mistakes were strategic and came from higher positions.

Call for in-depth investigation.

Clearly hinting at this, Major General Khaliwa's resignation letter calls for the creation of a state investigative committee “that can investigate and clarify thoroughly, in depth, comprehensively and accurately all the factors and circumstances that led to the grave events.”< /p>

If and when a broader investigation is launched, it will likely look into how the Israeli government supported Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the years leading up to the attack, apparently as a countermeasure to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

< p>He will also examine how the broader intelligence community came to believe—despite Hamas's apparent statements and actions to the contrary—that Israel had successfully «deterred» the terrorist group from launching a major attack on its southern border.< /p>

General -Major Khaliwa is the first senior officer to retire after the massacre, but not the first to accept responsibility.

Others who have done so include the head of the internal security agency Shin Bet, the Israeli equivalent of MI5, and General Herzl Halevi, the IDF chief of staff. Although they and other senior officers remain in their posts, they are expected to leave when the war in Gaza and the wider region ends.

“There will be purges in the military and intelligence spheres, and also — finally — in the political sphere. This is the Israeli way,” an Israeli security source told The Telegraph.

About 3,000 Hamas militants and Palestinian civilians attacked southern Israel on October 7, causing a modern-day pogrom.

In addition to those killed, another 253 people were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, where more than 130 remain hostage. Since then, the war in Gaza has killed more than 260 Israeli soldiers and, according to Gaza's health ministry, more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.