An Israeli soldier walks past a van used by Palestinian militants in Sderot, Israel, Saturday, October 7, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
An Israeli soldier walks past a van used by Palestinian militants in Sderot, Israel, Saturday, October 7, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — The head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate resigned Monday over failures surrounding the unprecedented Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the military said, becoming the first senior official to resign over his role in the deadliest attack in Israeli history.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva’s resignation sets the stage for what is expected to be further fallout from top Israeli security officials following the Hamas attack, when militants blew up Israel’s border defenses , ransacked Israeli communities unchallenged for hours and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. while taking around 250 hostages to Gaza. This attack sparked the war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its seventh month.
The military said in a statement that Haliva requested to terminate his service “due to his leadership responsibilities.” Shortly after the war, Haliva publicly stated that he was responsible for failing to prevent the assault on the head of the military department responsible for providing the government and army with intelligence warnings and daily alerts.
The army said in a statement that the military chief of staff accepted Haliva’s resignation request and thanked him for his service.
Haliva, along with other military and security leaders, was widely expected to resign in response to the egregious failures leading up to October 7 and those who made it such a devastating attack.
But the timing of the resignations is unclear as Israel continues to battle Hamas in Gaza and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Tensions with Iran are also high following attacks between the two enemies.
While Haliva and others accepted responsibility for failing to stop the attack, others stopped short, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he would answer tough questions on his role, but did not recognize any responsibility in the unfolding of the attack. .
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