Taking responsibility for the failures leading to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), resigned on Jan. 21.
Halevi has led the IDF through the longest war in Israel’s history.
He said he has sent a request to the minister of defense that he be allowed to leave his role on March 6.
“Until then, I will complete the IDF’s inquiries into the events of October 7th and strengthen the IDF’s readiness for security challenges,” Halevi said in a statement released by the IDF.
“The central mission of the IDF is to defend the citizens of this country. We failed in that. The consequences of that horrific day are something I have carried ever since—and will continue to carry for the rest of my life.
“I take responsibility for the IDF’s failure. I also take responsibility for its achievements. I’ll say this upfront—I wish these achievements hadn’t been necessary, and no achievement can ever reverse the immense pain, sorrow, and loss caused since the first day of the war.”
For the remainder of his tenure, he said, he will continue investigations of what went wrong on Oct. 7, 2023, and ensure the IDF can meet future security challenges.
The IDF owes the nation a complete and transparent investigation, he said.
“I can confidently say already: no one hid information. No one knew what was about to happen. No one aided the enemy in executing its cruelty,” he said.
“Throughout my decades of service, protecting Israel’s security has been my life’s work. The failure of Oct. 7 will haunt me forever,” Halevi said, noting he'll soon mark 40 years in the military.
“However, I believe that the time is now right for this transition, especially as the IDF has secured significant achievements and is at a stage where a new leadership can continue the mission with vigor and determination.”
Hamas, in an attack carefully planned for years, breached the barriers along the Gaza Strip’s 31-mile frontier with Israel at dozens of—by some estimates, more than 100—places. That allowed an estimated 3,000 Hamas terrorists to invade the country in cars and trucks, on motorcycles, and on paragliders.
The terrorists attacked dozens of border communities and military bases, the latter short-staffed as many soldiers were on leave for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
The attack internally displaced hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians, both in the border communities and in the north, where Hezbollah began daily rocket attacks in support of Hamas.
Israel has punished Gaza in the ensuing war. According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, around 46,000 people have been killed. The ministry does not distinguish civilians from terrorists and has been accused of inflating the numbers with deaths from natural causes.
Additionally, thousands of people have been left homeless as many of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Relief convoys, held up at the border or diverted by Hamas, have not been sufficient to feed the population.
Many causes have been suggested for Israel’s security failures on that day in 2023. They include disregarding the warnings of Hamas activity from young female soldiers assigned to observe the border, understaffing the IDF’s positions along the border, diverting military resources to the West Bank for political reasons, and ill-conceived gun control measures, which slowed kibbutz security forces’ access to their weapons to defend the kibbutzim that morning. The security forces are mostly military reservists or veterans.
Halevi had also appeared to be at odds with Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, over the direction of the war. He said Israel had achieved most of its goals, while Katz has echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting until it achieved “total victory” over Hamas.
Halevi resigned after two years and two months in the position, about 10 months earlier than the standard three-year term. He said he was resigning to keep the promise he made after the attack to take responsibility for it.
He called for a state inquiry to cover all the issues of national security leading to the failures that were beyond IDF control. The inquiry, he suggested, should probe the government as well, including Netanyahu.
However, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, struck down by a vote of 53 to 45 a proposal on Jan. 22 to form a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack. Such a commission would be the most powerful probe available and would operate independently of the political sector. Its members would be appointed by the chief justice.
Netanyahu’s conservative government has been at odds with Israel’s more liberal Supreme Court. The prime minister’s plan to reform the court by bringing it under greater control by the Knesset sparked widespread protests in Israel in 2023. Hamas is seen as having gone ahead with its long-planned attack in part because it perceived the nation to be so deeply split and in disarray.
Halevi noted the IDF’s successes in the ensuing war, defeating Hamas’s 24 battalions, killing nearly 20,000 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad forces in Gaza, killing around 4,000 Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and 794 terrorists in the West Bank, and forcing Hamas to the negotiating table.
He recognized that the country’s war aims are not yet fulfilled, including eliminating Hamas’s political control of Gaza and returning the remaining 94 living or dead hostages.
