Commander of Israeli army’s Gaza Division resigns

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) – The commander of the Israeli army’s Gaza Division announced his resignation on Sunday over his failure to protect Israeli military bases and settlements during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to Israeli media.

“On October 7, I failed in my lifetime mission to protect the Gaza border communities,” Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld said.

“Everyone has to take responsibility for their part and I am the one in charge of the 143rd Division,” he added.

He was not the first senior commander in the Israeli army to have resigned over failure to anticipate the Hamas attack.

In April, the head of the army’s Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) Aharon Haliva resigned over the Oct. 7 failures.

Sunday’s resignation came as Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala