Israel’s army has published its first official statement, which led to the mistake of failing in the October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.
The report concluded that the IDF “has failed to protect Israeli civilians”.
The 19-page report contains many known catastrophic deaths that resulted in the catastrophic deaths of about 1,200 people, when about 5,000 gunmen from Hamas and other Palestinian groups attacked Israel, taking 251 hostages in the process.
There is no dramatic revelation, but it does outline how the military misjudged the intentions of Palestinian armed groups and underestimated their capabilities.
The report said the military regards Gaza as a secondary security threat, prioritizing Iran and Hezbollah. It said its policy to Gaza was “contradictory: Hamas is illegal, but has no effort to develop alternatives”.
It said the military has chosen a “conflict management” approach to dealing with Gaza. And thought Hamas was “non-interested” [in] Nor was there preparations for a large-scale war.
Evidence from 2018 shows that Hamas is indeed developing ambitious plans as terrorist organizations by Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and others, which are interpreted as “unrealistic or unfeasible” and reflects “Hamas’ long-term aspirations, not a feasible threat.”
The report said that in the months after the war began, the Military Intelligence Agency began to develop new assessments, which showed that Hamas’ plan was not only a vision, but also a “specific framework for the operational plan.”
However, this emerging assessment did not attract the attention of senior military intelligence officials.
The report said about 5,000 gunmen from Hamas and other Palestinian groups attacked in three waves [Reuters]
The report identifies broadly complacency among the military on Hamas’ intentions and how to deal with the threats it posed.
“There is no in-depth discussion of this issue: What if we are wrong?” the report said.
Over time, the “large and continuous gap between Hamas and the real intelligence assessment” has developed.
The report also highlights what it says is “a decrease in familiarity with the enemy’s different worldviews, including its culture, religion, language and history.”
It calls for in-depth reforms to the Intelligence Agency’s culture: “Promoting knowledge openness, doubt, listening, learning, debate and constructive disagreement.”
It said the desire to protect high-priced intelligence sources has led the military to fail to raise alert levels by October 7.
It said the Gaza branch was “effectively defeated for hours”, seriously undermining its ability to understand what was happening and respond effectively.
It said the Air Force responded quickly, but “there is a great difficulty between distinguishing the IDF, civilians and terrorists”.
The report also said that in some incidents, injured soldiers were evacuated in front of civilians.
It took Israeli troops several hours to re-control the outer fences of Gaza and the area of several days to allow them to completely remove attackers [Reuters]
After submitting the findings to the commander on Monday, Lieutenant Herzi Halevi, the outgoing chief of staff of the IDF, said he was fully responsible for the failure.
“I take my responsibility. It’s mine. I was the commander of the army on October 7, and I took my responsibility. I also took all the responsibility. I also think it’s mine. I see that in every order I have, I also have a part of the error, and a part of my part has my part,” he said in the video.
Last month, the general announced his failed resignation and called for an inquiry committee to conduct a broader investigation to prevent another attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet acknowledged any responsibility for what happened on October 7, saying such state investigations should wait until the war ends.
His critics accuse Mr. Netanyahu of reluctance to admit any personal mistakes.
According to the Hamas-Operation Health Ministry in the region, Israel responded by launching air and ground campaigns in Gaza, during which at least 48,365 people were killed.
