In civilian probe, IDF official claims military withholding truth of what happened during Oct. 7 massacre
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Testifying anonymously before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into October 7, an official from the IDF’s Southern Command accuses the military of withholding the truth of what happened during Hamas’s attack and claims that the army’s internal investigation into its response is marked by conflicts of interest.
Almost every investigation conducted by the IDF ground forces “is lightyears distant from the truth” and is “motivated by a strategy of protecting each other,” the official asserts.
One colonel placed in charge of a probe was slated to be promoted by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, “so how can he investigate the commanders’ performance,” the official asks, alleging “a clear conflict of interest.”
The official further states that when they asked why they had not been questioned in another probe, they were told that “we had to protect the general, and if we had asked you questions we would not have been able to protect the general and the command.”
“I can unhesitatingly say that the truth is not being told to the families of the surveillance soldiers,” he continues, referring to the IDF servicewomen tasked with monitoring the Gaza border in the weeks and months before the October 7 Hamas invasion.

Testifying before the commission last week, several former surveillance soldiers, as well as the parents of their fallen comrades, stated that they had had to contend with repeated technical glitches in their monitoring equipment and were never trained on how to respond should their bases be overrun.
The families of the surveillance troops have long demanded a probe into the IDF’s apparent disregard for their children’s warnings ahead of October 7.