Major General Aharon Haliva (left) Photo: Israeli Army
News(AFP Jerusalem)
Israel’s military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva has resigned.
On October 7, Haliva stepped down from his position after being blamed for the failure to prevent the attacks of the Palestinian independence armed organization Hamas in Israel. The Israeli army confirmed this information on Monday.
Haliva is the first high-ranking Israeli official to resign over the failure to prevent the October 7 attack.
A statement from the Israeli army said that as the head of military intelligence, Haliva spoke to the Israeli army chief and requested to be relieved of his responsibility for the failure of the October 7 incident. It has been decided that Haliva will relinquish his duties after appointing a successor in accordance with the rules and following professional processes.
Haliver has a 38-year career in the Israeli military. In his resignation letter, he took responsibility for failing to prevent the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The Israeli army provided journalists with a copy of Haliva’s resignation letter. There, Haliva wrote, on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a sudden and deadly attack on Israel. In this incident, the military intelligence department under his leadership could not fulfill the assigned duties. Since then he carries this dark day with him. He carries this pain day after day, night after night. He will carry this terrible pain forever.
In his resignation letter, Haliva called for a thorough investigation into the attack.
Based on Israeli official data, AFP says that 1,170 people were killed in the attack by Hamas.
In response, Israel launched a counter-attack on the Palestinian Gaza Strip from that day. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the number of people killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive has exceeded 34,000.