Major General Aharon Haliva (ret.), Israel’s military intelligence chief, in Gaza last December.
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Photo: BBC
On October 7 last year, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, resigned after taking responsibility for failing to prevent an unprecedented attack by Hamas from Gaza.
He will step down after a successor is chosen, the Israel Defense Forces-IDF said.
In his resignation letter, Haliver wrote, he admitted that his intelligence agency had ‘failed to live up to the responsibilities assigned to them’.
It is the first time since the attack, the bloodiest in Israel’s history, that a top official has stepped down after taking responsibility for the failure.
According to the BBC, Israel’s military and intelligence officials have received warnings from multiple sources that Hamas may attack Israel. But none of them heeded that warning.
In the early hours of October 7, Hamas first launched a rain of rockets and missiles from Gaza towards Israel, disorienting them. Then thousands of Hamas fighters breached the border fence and massacred settlements, military bases and a music festival in southern Israel.
That day, Hamas fighters killed more than 1200 Israelis and foreigners. Another 253 were captured in Gaza.
On the same day, Israel launched a counter-attack. More than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far in Israel’s attack. Most of them are women and children. Gaza has now turned into hell.
