Israeli state comptroller accuses Netanyahu, army of non-cooperation on Oct. 7 investigation

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel's State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Wednesday accused the army and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office of not cooperating with investigations into the Oct. 7 failures.

In two letters addressed to Netanyahu and Army Chief of Staff Aviv Herzi Halevi, Englman demanded them ''to hand over documents, with no restrictions, concerning the October 7 Hamas attack and the war in Gaza,'' according to Haaretz daily.

Englman said Netanyahu and Halevi ''must order their people to act according to the law and cooperate with the investigation teams.”

“My public and ethical duty as state comptroller is to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the biggest failure in the history of the state,” he said in the letter as cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

Englman added that he is ''looking at the political, military and civilian responses.''

The state comptroller is a Knesset position responsible for monitoring the government's actions and policies.

Israel has waged a relentless offensive on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed some 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed and over 76,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

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

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul