Netanyahu’s ex-military secretary lays out intel received in hours before Oct. 7 attacks, and when he woke the PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former military secretary, who was in the post on October 7, 2023, gives a detailed account of the intelligence received in the hours before the Hamas attack and of when he decided to wake the premier.

Overnight October 6-7, intelligence indicating a possible attack “flowed through the systems” as it was supposed to, says Avi Gil in an interview with Channel 12. “The information reached the intelligence computers in the office of the head of the Military Intelligence Research Division, the head of Military Intelligence, the prime minister’s military secretary, and the intelligence office of the military secretary.”

“The intelligence flowed there all night,” says Gil, describing “suspicious signs [from Gaza], along with signs that explain why they are routine, without any urgency in terms of time.”

Whatever information IDF military intelligence received that night was received by the aforementioned offices as well, he says.

Gil explains that thousands of documents reach the offices in a day, including overnight.

At 3:55 a.m. on October 7, Gil says, his intelligence officer received information on what Israeli intelligence was seeing in Gaza, along with a phone call from the intelligence personnel who sent it to verify that the officer saw the message.

The intelligence message contained the terms “routine” and “not unusual” multiple times, Gil notes. The document also said that further assessments would take place later in the day, adding to the impression that there was no emergency at hand.

“Therefore, he made the professional, considered decision” not to wake Gil, which in turn meant that the prime minister didn’t see the material right away, says Gil of his intelligence aide, “because in his eyes, there is no urgency.”

He says there were “certainly” other cases when he, Gil, was not woken up because the material was not deemed sufficiently urgent.

The IDF chief of staff and Shin Bet chief “do not call the prime minister directly,” Gil stresses in response to a question asking why they didn’t phone Netanyahu. The way for them to arrange a conversation with the prime minister, he says, is through the military secretary.

Gil says he himself was woken by a phone call at 6:12 a.m. from Shin Bet director Ronen Bar’s chief of staff. Bar’s chief of staff told him that they had to speak on the secure phone about “the south.”

They held that conversation at 6:17 a.m., he says.

The Shin Bet official told him that there were suspicious signs from Gaza, including Hamas leaders going underground and the activation of Israeli SIM cards [suggesting that the people with those phones were intending to enter Israel], but that there were also reasons to believe that nothing out of the ordinary was about to happen. He also told Gil that it was not urgent, and there would be situational assessments later that day.

The Shin Bet official also said that an elite Shin Bet force was being sent toward Gaza just in case.

Did it occur to Gil to wake Netanyahu, Gil is asked. “For sure, but before I update the prime minister I have to speak to at least one other body, the IDF, which is responsible for Gaza.” He says he called IDF chief Herzi Halevi’s chief of staff at 6:22 or 6:23 for four or five minutes, “and while we were talking, after a few minutes, my telephone starts to vibrate with multiple alerts of rocket fire in the south. This, he confirms, was “at 6:29 a.m.”

That was when he called Netanyahu on WhatsApp to wake him up.

“Prime minister, Hamas has begun very significant rocket fire,” Gil says he told him.

“I connect it to the intelligence I received 10 minutes before,” says Gil. “I assess that Hamas has begun a major surprise attack.” He told Netanyahu that he was going to gather information and call him on a secure line as soon as he had more information.

The purpose of the conversation, says Gil, was “to tell the prime minister that something was happening, big or small… and bring him to a secure line.”

Asked why he didn’t call Netanyahu on the secure “red phone” from the start, he explained that the prime minister does not walk around with a secure phone on or near him.

The secure conversation took place at 6:40 a.m., he says.

“I told the prime minister, we are at war,” says Gil. “I gave him information on what has happened. He gave a number of instructions,” he continues, without going into further detail.

Netanyahu has said that if he had been woken earlier in the night, he could have taken measures to halt the Hamas invasion.

Gil stresses that the army doesn’t need to wait for instructions from the prime minister to begin calling up reserves or targeting Hamas leaders.

When it is put to Gil that Netanyahu has accused Israel’s October 7, 2023 defense chiefs, including Shin Bet head Ronen of deliberately choosing not to wake him in the hours before the invasion, suggesting a betrayal, Gil makes clear those claims are false.

“Let’s talk facts,” he urges. Of course “there was a failure,” he goes on, and “the interpretation” of what was unfolding in Gaza was “absolutely” wrong.

But, based on what he knows, the idea that someone deliberately withheld information “is a lie,” he says.

“So why would some people claim that?” he is asked, and says he has his own answers. “You can guess whatever you want,” he adds.