Report claims it took PM at least 2 hours to leave home, head to IDF HQ, after October 7 onslaught began

Channel 12 reports that it took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at least two hours to leave his Caesarea home and head to the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv after Hamas-led terrorists began invading Israel at 6:29 a.m, on October 7, 2023.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu’s office published what it claims were the minutes from the premier’s schedule from that day.

Those minutes showed that Netanyahu, alerted at 6.29 to the Hamas invasion, didn’t leave his home until 7:30 a.m. because it took time to prepare his convoy.

The minutes then stated that the premier arrived at the Kirya at 8 a.m., though they also noted that the Shin Bet’s minutes documented the arrival time as having been 8:22 a.m.

However, Channel 12 says that unpublished minutes from the prime minister’s office diary placed the actual time of arrival at 9 a.m., while a “credible source” tells the network that the real arrival time wasn’t until 9:30 a.m.

This would mean that Netanyahu likely did not leave his house until 8:30 or 9 a.m.

Netanyahu also declared this week that had the security chiefs woken him up in the middle of the night to share the indications they were receiving about a potential Hamas invasion, he would have “immediately” mobilized the IDF and the Air Force.

However, Channel 12 states that after he was woken up by his military secretary at 6:29 a.m., Netanyahu did not phone the IDF chief of staff or Shin Bet chief, and did not speak to them until he arrived at the Kirya over two hours later.

Netanyahu did not hold his first situational assessment at the Kirya until 9:55 a.m., according to the minutes released this week by his office.

Netanyahu has blocked efforts to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7, which would strive to fill in such blanks.

Channel 12 also reveals that then-defense minister Yoav Gallant arrived at the Kirya at 7:30 a.m., one hour after being alerted to the Hamas invasion.

Gallant lives in the town of Amikam, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Kirya, while Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea is 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) closer to the military HQ.