The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate resigned on Monday over failures surrounding the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas, becoming the first senior official to resign over his role in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. the military announced.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Hariba’s resignation comes as the militants breached Israel’s border defenses and rampaged through Israeli communities unopposed for hours, inflicting massive casualties and killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. ) could set the stage for further fallout from Israel’s security brass over the Hamas attack that killed 250 hostages were thrown into Gaza.
The attack began a war with Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month.
“The Intelligence Bureau under my command did not carry out the mission entrusted to us. I have carried that dark day with me every day and night ever since. I will forever carry the terrible pain of war. I intend to hold on,” Hariba wrote in a resignation letter provided by the military.
Shortly after the war, Hariba publicly said that as head of the military responsible for providing intelligence alerts and daily alerts to the government and military, he was responsible for failing to prevent the attacks.
The army said in a statement that the army chief of staff had accepted Hariba’s request to resign and thanked him for his 38 years of service.
Hariba and other military and security leaders were widely expected to resign in the wake of the apparent failures and the scale of their ferocity leading up to October 7.
But the timing of his resignation is unclear, as Israel continues to fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north.
Tensions with Iran are also rising following attacks between the two countries.
Some military experts say stepping down at a time when Israel is fighting on multiple fronts is irresponsible and could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.
While Hariba and others have accepted responsibility for failing to stop the attacks, others have also quickly stood down, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has declined to answer tough questions about his role. However, he did not fully accept direct responsibility for allowing the attack to unfold. .
He has also shown no intention of resigning, despite growing protests calling for early elections.
The Hamas attack, which occurred on a Jewish holiday, caught Israel and its vaunted security apparatus completely by surprise. Israeli faith in the Israeli military, seen by most Jews as one of the country’s most trusted institutions, was shattered in the face of Hamas’s onslaught. Resignation may help restore some of that trust.
The attack kicked off a devastating war in Gaza that left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead, at least two-thirds of them children and women, according to local health officials. It destroyed Gaza’s two largest cities and forced 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave. The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe and prompted warnings of impending famine.
The attack also sent shockwaves through the region. Tensions have rocked not only the Israeli-occupied West Bank but also cities and towns within Israel.
Israeli police said on Monday that a car plowed into pedestrians in Jerusalem, leaving three people with minor injuries, and security camera footage showed two men with rifles getting out of the car and fleeing the scene. Ta. Police later announced that two people had been arrested.
