IDF intel chief Haliva, who took responsibility for Oct. 7 failures, set to announce resignation – report
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The chief of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, is set to announce that he is stepping down, the Ynet news site reports.
Ten days after the October 7 onslaught, Haliva said he bore full responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas attack.
“The Military Intelligence Directorate, under my command, failed to warn of the terror attack carried out by Hamas,” Haliva said on October 17. “We failed in our most important mission, and as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I bear full responsibility for the failure.”
It is unclear when Haliva will resign, as the IDF will need to find a replacement.
Haliva is also currently involved in the army’s internal investigations of its failures in the lead-up to the Hamas October 7 massacre.
The probes are due to be presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi by the beginning of June.
Haliva was on vacation in Eilat on October 7. He was reportedly updated at around 3 a.m. that morning regarding “certain signs coming from Gaza” about an imminent attack, but reportedly took no part in consultations in the highest echelons of the IDF regarding those indications and was not available by phone for them.
Haliva was quoted as later telling those around him that, even if he had participated in the consultations, he would have concluded that Hamas was apparently carrying out a drill and that dealing with the matter could wait until the morning. “It wouldn’t have changed the final result in any way,” he reportedly said.
According to a Channel 12 report in December, the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate held a discussion three months before October 7, at which an officer — identified only by their rank and first initial, Brig. Gen. Peh — concluded: “We have tried but have not succeeded; we cannot say how [Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya] Sinwar will act, and therefore commanders in the field should take the necessary precautions.”
It said the conclusions of that discussion were given to Haliva, who ordered that intelligence gathering be stepped up, adding that this indeed happened.
