The head of the Israeli military’s intelligence branch has resigned over his unit’s failures during the October 7 Hamas attacks.
“It was decided that MG Aharon Haliva will end his position and retire from the IDF, once his successor is appointed in an orderly and professional process,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Monday.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who has served in the IDF for 38 years, is the first senior military figure to resign over the October 7 attacks, when Hamas fighters stormed the border into Israel.
The attack was widely seen as a major Israeli intelligence failure, with several top defense and security officials coming forward in October to take responsibility to some extent for missteps that led to the attacks.
Following the attack that caught Israel off-guard, Haliva admitted to an “intelligence failure” by his unit in not detecting Hamas’ plans.
“We didn’t fulfil our most important task, and as the head of the Intelligence Directorate, I take full responsibility for this failure,” he said at the time.
