IDF presents Katz with 2 probes of Oct. 7 after defense minister’s ultimatum

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday was presented two of the Israeli military’s internal investigations into the October 7, 2023 onslaught, his office said after he had told the Israel Defense Forces to wrap up its investigations by the end of January.

The probes were presented to Katz by the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, chief of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk along with other commanders.

Katz’s office said the probes focus on “major events and the gaps that were discovered” with the aim of  “drawing lessons and implementing them immediately.”

During the meeting Katz “emphasized the great importance of conducting professional, comprehensive and transparent investigations, which will provide an answer to the [hostage] families and the public and will assist in drawing the necessary conclusions,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Katz will be presented with additional investigations in the coming weeks upon their completion after he ordered the IDF last week to complete all of them by the end of January.

The defense minister said he would freeze promotions among the military’s top brass until then. He said the move was necessary to prevent the promotion of officers who bore responsibility for the failure of October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

In response, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi  — who has indicated he would quit once the IDF completes its investigations — ordered the military on Wednesday to “accelerate the timetables” of its probes.

The army has conducted several internal investigations to understand what went wrong before and during the Hamas onslaught. On Wednesday, Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said the IAF had completed its investigation into its response to the shock assault.

Meanwhile, the government has refused to appoint a state commission of inquiry and has opposed any probes that could include looking at political failures surrounding the devastating surprise attack last year, its lead-up, and its aftermath.

The IDF’s investigations at the General Staff level include four main subjects:

• The development of the IDF’s perception of Gaza, with an emphasis on the border, starting in 2018;
• The IDF’s intelligence assessments of Hamas from 2018 until the outbreak of the war;
• The intelligence and decision-making process on the eve of October 7, as well as the days leading up to it;
• The command and control, formations, and orders given during battles between October 7 and 10, when troops restored control over all communities and army bases in southern Israel that had been invaded by Hamas.

Under those four main subjects are 18 sub-topics, according to the IDF.

The investigations have been carried out by units seen as having had a role in the failure to notice Hamas preparations or adequately prepare for the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.

In addition, the IDF is investigating 41 separate battles and major incidents that took place during the October 7 attack.

The military says the investigations will be presented to the public once they have been concluded and packaged together.

Last Friday, Halevi was presented with some initial findings from the probe of the night before Hamas attacked.

The findings reportedly indicated that he should have held a wider-scale situational assessment than he did that night. Nonetheless, the probe was said to determine that the IDF had no concrete information that Hamas was about to attack.

While the IDF has been pressed to investigate itself over the failures that allowed the Hamas onslaught to unfold, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has avoided following suit, with the premier arguing that such a probe should only take place after the war is over.

Netanyahu has also rejected efforts to establish a state commission of inquiry, with his supporters arguing that they don’t trust those who will be tasked with running the panel.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.