TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned Monday. Failures surrounding Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attackThe military said he was the first senior figure to resign after taking responsibility for the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
The resignation of Major General Aharon Haliva could set the stage for more resignations among Israel's top security forces in response to Hamas's offensive, as the militants burst through Israel's border security and rampaged through Israeli communities for hours, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians. 250 hostages in Gaza. The attack began The war against Hamas in GazaNow in the seventh month.
“The Directorate of Intelligence under my command has not fulfilled the task entrusted to us. I carry that black day with me day after day, night after night. “I will carry with me the terrible pain of war forever,” Haliwa wrote in his resignation letter, which was issued by the military.
Haliwa and other military and security leaders, Oct. It was widely expected that they would resign in response to the apparent failures that led up to the 7th and the scale of its ferocity.
But the timing of the resignation is unclear as Israel is still fighting Hamas in Gaza and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Tensions with Iran are also at a peak following attacks between the two adversaries. Some military experts said the resignation at a time when Israel is engaged on multiple fronts would be irresponsible and could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.
After the attack, Haliwa publicly blamed himself for not preventing the attack as head of the military department responsible for providing intelligence alerts and daily warnings to the government and the military.
While Haliwa and others accepted blame for failing to prevent the attack, others held off, notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he would answer tough questions about his role. No direct liability is expressly disclaimed For allowing the attack to unfold. He did not indicate that he would step down as the growing protest movement demanded early elections.
The Hamas attack, which came on a Jewish holiday, completely caught Israel and its security establishment off guard. Israelis' faith in the military — seen by most Jews as one of the country's most trusted institutions — has crumbled in the face of Hamas's onslaught. Resignation will help restore that trust.
The attack started a devastating war in Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry. The ministry's figure does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but it is at least telling Two-thirds of the dead were children and women. The fighting destroyed two of Gaza's largest cities and prompted 80% of the territory's population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave. The war has sparked a humanitarian disaster that has drawn warnings of imminent famine.
The attack sent shock waves across the region. Tensions have rocked the Israeli-occupied West Bank and towns and cities inside Israel.
On Monday, Israeli police said there was a car Pedestrians hit In Jerusalem, three were slightly injured, and security camera video showed two men getting out of a car with guns before fleeing the scene. The police said they arrested both of them later.
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This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva's last name.
