The spy chief of Israel’s military has resigned after accepting responsibility for the failure to stop Hamas's unprecedented attack of October 7 last year.
Major General Aharon Haliva wrote in his resignation letter Monday, “After more than six months, and at the same time as the investigations begin, I would like to resign from my position.”
Haliva, who had previously taken public responsibility for the failures, has become the first senior Israel figure to acknowledge that Tel Aviv had failed to foresee and prevent Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, “whose consequences are severe and painful.”
“The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task assigned to it,” he wrote.
“I have carried that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me for ever.”
The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement carried out the operation against Israel in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
During that operation, the resistance fighters captured an unprecedented number of Israeli soldiers.
In the event, the regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s military forces to attack the besieged Gaza Strip with a force “like never before.”
More than six months into the genocidal war that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, Haliva has now called for a commission of inquiry to investigate the failures.
“I am convinced … that it is appropriate to set up a state inquiry commission that can thoroughly, deeply, comprehensively and critically investigate all the factors and circumstances that led to the tragic events.”
While he has accepted blame for the failures, others have stopped short, most notably Netanyahu who has never acknowledged direct responsibility for his failures.
Netanyahu has also not indicated that he will step down, although a growing protest movement is demanding that elections be held soon.
Observers say Haliva’s resignation could set the stage for more resignations among the regime’s senior figures.
The Israeli media reported that the military's Central Command chief, Yehuda Fuchs, is also expected to step down in the summer.
Fuchs, according to the reports, notified the military chief of staff on Monday of his intention to resign at the end of his three-year term in August.