Report: Jan. 31 deadline for wrapping up IDF’s Oct. 7 probes extremely hard to meet

Defense Minister Israel Katz’s January 31 deadline for concluding the Israel Defense Forces’ internal probes regarding the military failure to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre will be near-impossible to meet, the Ynet news site cites unnamed army officials as estimating.

It would be “very hard, bordering on impossible,” to meet the set timetable, which could result in a clash between the government and the military, the report says.

Katz said yesterday that he was freezing the promotions of senior officers in the IDF until the army presents him with all the investigations it has conducted into the onslaught, setting the deadline. Halevi has previously indicated that he will resign upon the completion of the army’s October 7 probes.

By contrast, most of the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have refused to acknowledge their responsibility for the multifaceted failure to prevent the unprecedented cross-border assault, have objected to forming a state commission of inquiry, and haven’t formed any sort of inquiry.