Ex-general to lead probe into IDF’s handling of intel on Hamas attack plans pre-Oct 7

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Thursday said he appointed a former general to head a panel of experts that would investigate the military’s failed handling of intelligence reports received since 2018, which outlined Hamas’s intent to launch a wide-scale attack against Israel — a topic not included in the army’s initial probes into the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa, who retired from the military in 2018 after serving as head of the Central Command, would lead the team that will include five other former senior officers, the military said.

The decision came after a different team of former senior officers, led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman conducted a review of the IDF’s internal probes into the failures on October 7. The team found many of the probes to be inadequate, and also pointed to several topics that were not investigated at all, chief among them was the intelligence reports of Hamas’s attack plan, codenamed in the army “Jericho’s Walls.”

The military had, over the years, dismissed Hamas’s plans as unrealistic and unfeasible, all while the terror group continued its preparations for October 7.

The team’s mandate would be to examine how information about Hamas’s plan evolved within the IDF, identify the gaps and failures that led to the lack of awareness of the intelligence, and derive lessons for the future, according to the military.

Numa’s team was instructed to present its conclusions within two months. It, however, was not given a mandate to make recommendations for “personal decisions” against officers — such as dismissal —  as this falls under the authority of the chief of staff.

On Thursday evening, Zamir presented the IDF’s top brass with his summary of Turgeman’s report, which included his “insights and lessons drawn from the report, along with key points for integrating them into the IDF’s work plan in the coming years,” the army said.

The chief of staff’s summary, which is mostly identical to the conclusions made by Turgeman’s team, included two parts: An unclassified section that will be distributed to all officers above the rank of lieutenant colonels and a classified section that would be aired in select forums, according to the IDF.

Zamir told the officers on Thursday that “to synchronize all future processes arising from the report and to monitor their implementation,” an oversight committee will be established, headed by Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai.

In addition to implementing the lessons learned, Yadai was also overseeing the reinvestigation of probes that were deemed by Turgeman’s team to be inadequate or unacceptable, according to the army.

In the coming weeks, a learning session was to be held by the General Staff Forum, during which top officers would discuss the implementation of the lessons in their respective units, the IDF said.

The military said that Zamir, in his summary, outlined several “main courses of action” for the military’s “evolution” in the coming years. Among them were that a surprise war should serve as a “compass for the IDF’s operational readiness,” that a ground offensive should be a “central component of the IDF’s capabilities,” and that “professional processes” in the Intelligence Directorate should be strengthened.

“We are moving to the next phase regarding the investigations of the events of October 7, which is the stage of integrating the lessons into the IDF’s work plan and implementing them,” Zamir said in remarks provided by the IDF. “It is our duty to confront failure directly and extract everything we can from it to ensure it does not recur, and to learn everything possible to improve the IDF’s capabilities.

“I believe this process will accompany the IDF for years to come, and we must ensure that it is thoroughly integrated into all components of the system,” he added.

Zamir was determined to continue leading the IDF forward, and not “sink into endless investigations that would harm the IDF’s readiness,” a military source said, after Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the defense establishment comptroller to re-evaluate the findings made by Turgeman’s team — which itself was a review of the IDF’s internal probes.

“Any further handling of the issue from this point on would require the establishment of an external commission of inquiry,” and “personal decisions” against additional officers, the source said.

Zamir has publicly rejected Katz’s order to investigate the review of the IDF’s internal probes, and has also called for an external “comprehensive systemic investigation” into the failures on October 7.

Despite polls consistently showing a substantial majority of Israelis want a state commission of inquiry to be established, Netanyahu and his coalition have rejected attempts to establish one. They say a commission should only be set up after the war is concluded, and reject a state commission appointed by the Supreme Court chief, claiming it would be biased against them.