Israeli army launches investigation into failures to predict Oct. 7 Hamas attack

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army on Thursday launched an internal investigation into the failures in the lead-up to a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.

"Reviews hold an honorable place in our military values. They are the lever that allows for improvement after failure," Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a letter to army commanders.

“Holding ourselves accountable and facing reviews also requires bravery and leadership,” he added.

The army chief pledged that the military will in the upcoming months review its "defensive capabilities at the beginning of the war and the circumstances that preceded it."

Israel’s domestic security service Shin Bet also launched an investigation into the agency’s failure to predict the Hamas attack, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

The move came following growing demands in Israel for an investigation into the Hamas attack, which Israel said killed nearly 1,200 people.

Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 30,800 people and injuring nearly 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar