The Israeli army recognized its “full failure” to prevent the attack on October 7 by Hamas, admitting that it had, for years, underestimated the capacities of the Palestinian group.
The summary of an investigation by the Israeli army, published on Thursday, said that he “failed in his mission to protect Israeli civilians”.
“On October 7 was a complete failure, the FDI (soldiers) failed to carry out its mission to protect the Israeli civilians,” said a senior Israeli army official following the publication of the investigation. “Too many civilians died that day wondering in their hearts or aloud, where was the FDI?” said the manager, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The investigation said that the perception that Hamas was not interested in a large -scale conflict and that Israel would have sufficiently warned in the event of an attack is not disputed for years, leading to a lack of preparation and ability to respond to an attack.
He also noted that Israel had concentrated his information and military efforts on other fronts, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and relied too much on intelligence, barriers and defensive measures alone “, and was thus taken by surprise.
Since the murderous attack which killed around 1,139 people in Israel and sparked the war against Gaza which killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, questions have been asked in the Netanyahu administration and the army for its management of the attack.
During the attack, more than 200 people were also caught in captivity.
There have been widespread calls for Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. The incident had already resulted in the resignation of the head of spy in Israel Aharon Haliva in 2024. In January, General Herzi Halevi of Israel also resigned, citing “failures” and terrible intelligence which led to the attack.
The southern army command Yaron Finkelman also resigned.
“I kiss her, the responsibility is mine, I was the army commander on October 7, I support my own responsibility, and I also suppose the full responsibility of all of you. And I recognize in all the subordinates who made a mistake, as part of mine (error), “said Halevi.
The investigation concluded that the Hamas attack occurred in three waves and, at its peak, saw more than 5,000 combatants and civilians entering Israel.
The report indicates in the first wave, more than 1,000 Nukhba fighters, the elite force of Hamas, “infiltrated” Israel under the cover of a heavy fire. They would have been responsible for the abandonment of the Israeli military communication system and its command and control centers, creating chaos while the army had trouble regaining control.
The second wave, according to the survey, involved some 2,000 fighters while the third saw hundreds of others join the foray, as well as several thousand civilians.
Hamas argued that only a few hundred of its fighters led the attack.
A previous investigation by Israeli media Haaretz noted that the own soldiers of Israel may have drawn and killed Israeli civilians during the attack on Hamas, in order to prevent Palestinian fighters from taking captives.
Responding to the release of the investigation, the head of the opposition, Yair Lapid, renewed his call to Netanyahu to form an official commission to investigate the attack.
“The army shows courage and integrity, and to go without any attempt to cover or escape its responsibility,” wrote Lapid on X. “It is time for the cowardly group, failed called the Israeli government to do the same,” he added.
