Tehran, IRNA - The Israeli army chief of staff has announced his resignation over security and intelligence failure to prevent a surprise attack by Palestinian resistance groups on October 7, 2023.
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi notified prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war minister Israel Katz on Tuesday that he will resign from his post effective March 6.
“My responsibility for this terrible failure accompanies me every day and every hour. This will continue for the rest of my life,” he wrote.
Shortly after Halevi's announcement, the head of the Israeli military's southern command, Yaron Finkelman, also announced his resignation.
Meanwhile, the head of the opposition party Yisrael Beitenu, Avigdor Liberman, called on Netanyahu and the rest of the cabinet ministers “to take responsibility and follow in the footsteps of Halevi.”
Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the failure to stop Operation Al-Aqsa Storm led by Hamas, in which about 1200 Israeli military personnel and illegal settlers were killed and 250 others were taken prisoner.
Israel was forced to accept a ceasefire deal, mostly on Hamas’s terms, last week to return the prisoners after failing to do so through a devastating war in Gaza.
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