More than six months after the Hamas attack on October 7, the first resignations have arrived. The head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence of Israel, Aharon Haliva, yesterday requested to end his position, as he is considered responsible for the military inaction that did not prevent the multiple attack of the Islamist militia in which nearly 1,200 people died in Israeli territory.
“In a decision with the Chief of Staff and with the approval of the Minister of Defense, it was decided that General Aharon Haliva will finish his post and retire from the Israel Defense Forces, as soon as the his successor is appointed”, announced a military statement. This would be the first resignation of an Israeli political or military official since the incursion by Hamas fighters, which took Israel by surprise on October 7. The army launched an internal investigation at the end of February, the conclusions of which are expected to be presented to the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, in early June.
“On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a deadly surprise attack against the State of Israel (…), the intelligence service placed under my command did not fulfill the mission that was “He had trusted us,” says General Haliva, who has a 38-year military career, in his letter of resignation, published by the Israeli army. “I have carried this dark day with me ever since. Day after day, night after night, I will carry this terrible pain forever,” he adds. Already in October, Haliva took some of the blame for a slow response against the thousands of Hamas militants, who that day seized control of border military bases and more than a dozen Israeli communities and reached deploy armed in 3% of the territory.
According to a survey published yesterday and carried out between April 14 and 17 by the Israel Democracy Institute, 62% of the Israeli population believes that it is time for those responsible for the errors of October 7 to resign. The attack by Hamas caused the death of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a count by the AFP agency based on official figures. Hamas commandos also took 250 hostages to Gaza that day, of whom about a hundred were released during a truce at the end of November.
In another order of things, the Israeli Foreign Ministry charged yesterday against UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, insisting that “it is infiltrated by Hamas”. Yesterday a report was presented in New York with recommendations to underpin UNRWA’s neutrality; Israel has not publicly offered evidence of its alleged ties to Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army attacked again yesterday in the east of Khan Iunis, in the south of Gaza, where the Gazan authorities yesterday recovered 73 more corpses from the mass grave that was found in the Nasser hospital on Friday. 283 bodies have already been exhumed. Health authorities said they have identified only 42 bodies. Among these corpses are women and the elderly, and some were handcuffed and naked, suggesting that they were executed.
