First look at IDF chief’s October 7 schedule shows delayed top-level coordination
Document’s release comes after year-long delay, revealing that Halevi’s first meeting with Netanyahu took place more than three hours after Hamas’s surprise attack began
Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday released former chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi’s schedule for the first time, revealing that an initial assessment he held on October 7, 2023, began at 7 a.m. — half an hour after Hamas’s surprise attack began — and that he only met with Prime Minister Netanyahu at 9:45 a.m.
Halevi resigned from his position last month after taking responsibility for the failures surrounding the October 7 onslaught. However, Netanyahu and most members of his government have repeatedly refused to do the same.
According to the schedule, Halevi held a situational assessment on October 7 at 7 a.m. at the Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv.
He subsequently held a total of eight meetings, including three with the then-chief of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, before meeting with Netanyahu at 9:45 a.m.
Finkelman has since resigned from the military.
Amid Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, during which terrorists abducted 251 people, the IDF established a Hostage and Missing Persons Headquarters, headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon.
However, Halevi only held a first meeting with Alon on October 13, and the next meeting was on October 24, according to the schedule.
On the evening of October 5, just 36 hours before the war began, Halevi led a security briefing to assess the IDF’s war readiness — though it did not signal heightened concern on the IDF’s part.
In the final hours before Hamas’s October 7 assault, the IDF detected five irregular signs of activity, but top officials determined they did not indicate an imminent attack, according to a military investigation.
The schedule’s release followed a Freedom of Information petition by the nonprofit Hatzlacha – For the Advancement of a Fair Society, after the army failed to respond to their request for over a year.
The petition, filed in February 2024, requested Halevi’s administrative diary from October 2023 onward. Despite repeated inquiries, the IDF remained silent for months and only issued a partial response at the court’s final deadline, providing entries for the last three months of 2023.
At a Tel Aviv District Court hearing prior to the document’s release, Judge Oded Maor sharply criticized the state for its repeated delays and mishandling of the case, noting that the IDF had already requested several extensions.
In response to such criticisms, the IDF released a statement saying, “In light of the numerous security challenges and the complex operational reality, an extended period of time was required to formulate a response to the request, which demanded the attention of professional bodies, including information security officials.”
The schedule omits any mention of meetings with journalists, despite the petition’s explicit request.
The IDF claims that not everything was documented due to the initial shock of Hamas’s onslaught.
The release of Halevi’s schedule marks the first known instance of an IDF chief of staff’s diary being disclosed under Israel’s Freedom of Information Law, according to Hatzlacha.
The Times of Israel Community.