The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigns over blunders in Hamas attack | THE DAILY STAND

AFP | Jerusalem

The daily stand – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israel’s military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas attack on October 7, the army said yesterday, as Israel increased shelling in war-torn Gaza.

Major General Aharon Haliva is the first top Israeli official to resign over his failure to prevent the Hamas attack, which sparked the Gaza war now in its seventh month and has placed intense scrutiny on the Israeli government and brought the army with him. “The intelligence department under my command failed to fulfill the task entrusted to us,” Haliva said in his resignation letter. “I have carried that black day with me ever since.” In a sign of the fear still felt in Israel, families have been called upon to leave an empty chair at tables to represent the hostages held in Gaza when the Jewish holiday of Passover begins last night.

Israel lashed out at reports that its main ally and military supplier, the United States, was considering imposing sanctions on the Israeli army’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion over alleged pre-war human rights abuses in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Sunday that the Israeli army would increase military pressure to “deal additional and painful blows” to the Palestinian Hamas militants it is fighting in Gaza. He has been talking for two months about sending troops to Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, to go after Hamas. Israeli allies, including Washington, have warned against such an operation, fearing a worsening of the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. A majority of Palestinians in Gaza have sought refuge in Rafah from elsewhere in the area.