Israeli army chief resigns, taking responsibility for failure

Last Updated on January 22, 2025 6:56 am

The Israeli army chief of staff, Harji Halevi, has submitted his resignation letter, accepting responsibility for the failure. He submitted his resignation letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday (January 21).

According to a report in the Times of Israel, Halevi has decided to resign, accepting responsibility for the security and intelligence failures in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. He will resign on March 6.

In his resignation letter sent to the Israeli defense minister, Halevi wrote, “On the morning of October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) failed to protect our citizens. This failure will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

During the 15-month Israeli invasion of Gaza, hardline ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have widely criticized Halevi. According to them, the army chief has played a soft role in the military operation in Gaza. However, all the world’s top human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have accused Halevi’s forces of committing genocide in Gaza during this time.

According to the Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera, from October 7, 2023 until the ceasefire took effect on January 19, about 47,000 people, most of them women and children, were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military. In addition, more than 100,000 Palestinians were injured in indiscriminate Israeli attacks.