Jerusalem: Israel’s military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi has said he will step down from his post in March for having failed to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack.
In a missive to Israel’s Prime Minister and Defence Minister made public by the military, Halevi said: “As a result of my responsibility for the IDF’s failure on October 7, and at a time when the military has recorded exceptional achievements in restoring Israel’s deterrence and strength, I wish to conclude my tenure on March 6, 2025,” according to CNN.
“On the morning of October 7, under my command, the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of Israel,” Halevi wrote. “The State of Israel paid a heavy and painful price in lives lost, in those taken hostage, in the wounded – both physically and mentally.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had ordered Halevi to complete by January 30 an internal military investigation into the failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Halevi’s resignation marks the highest-profile departure of an Israeli official linked to the security establishment’s failures on October 7. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to take responsibility for those failures, stating that accountability will come only after the war.
Halevi had also come under fire from the far right ministers.
Earlier, the Commanding Officer of the Israel’s Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman quit admitting his failure to protect the country’s citizens. UNI
