TEL AVIV — The head of Israeli military intelligence has announced his resignation, becoming the first senior official to step down after the failure to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack.
“The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I have carried that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night, I will carry the pain with me forever,” Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva wrote in a letter of resignation.
Other senior security officials — including the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency — have indicated they intend to resign after the war in Gaza.
Haliva’s resignation may add to pressure for accountability from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing sustained protests calling for early elections. Demonstrators say they have lost faith in his government.
Netanyahu has so far resisted calls for an early vote. And while he has promised to set up a national commission to investigate the failures of Oct.7, he has not yet given any timetable for when the probe would start or when it would report.
A similar commission looked into Israel’s failure to prepare for the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack launched in October 1973. It recommended the firing of the then-military intelligence chief along with several other generals.
Haliva said he believed that for “the sake of the State of Israel, for the sake of the people of Israel, and for the sake of future generations” a national commission should investigate the Hamas attack in a “thorough, in-depth, comprehensive, and precise manner.”
Haliva is not expected to resign immediately. He said in his letter he would remain in post until “the completion of the investigative phase” and until a successor is appointed.
