The Israeli occupation army has acknowledged its “complete failure” to prevent the October 7 attack by Hamas, admitting that it had, for years, underestimated the Palestinian group’s capabilities.

The summary of an Israeli army investigation, published on Thursday, said it “failed in its mission to protect Israeli civilians”.

“October 7 was a complete failure, the military failed in fulfilling its mission to protect Israeli ‘civilians’,” a senior Israeli army official told reporters following the publication of the investigation. “Too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the army?” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The probe said the perception that Hamas was not interested in a full-scale conflict and that ‘Israel’ would have ample warning in case of an attack went unchallenged for years, resulting in a lack of preparedness and ability to respond to an attack.

It also found that ‘Israel’ had focused its intelligence and military efforts on other fronts, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and relied too heavily “on intelligence, barriers, and defensive measures alone”, and was thus caught by surprise.

There have been widespread calls for Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. The incident had already resulted in the resignation of Israeli spy chief Aharon Haliva in 2024. In January, Israeli top general Herzi Halevi also resigned, citing “terrible” security and intelligence “failures” that led to the attack.

The Zionist army’s southern command Yaron Finkelman also resigned.

“I embrace it, the responsibility is mine, I was the commander of the army on October 7th, I bear my own responsibility, and I also bear the full responsibility for all of you. And I acknowledge in every subordinate of mine who made a mistake, as part of my own [mistake],” Halevi had said.

Source: Websites