Taking responsibility for Oct 7 failures, IDF chief of staff resigns

Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi, chief of Israel’s military, announces his resignation, while taking responsibility for the IDF’s failures on and before October 7, 2023.

By JNS

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has informed Defense Minister Israel Katz that he will be resigning as of March, Hebrew media reported on Tuesday.

Halevi, who succeeded Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in January 2023, said his decision to step down stemmed from his “responsibility for the IDF’s failure” during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre, in which Gaza terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

“At this juncture, when the IDF has recorded significant achievements and is in the process of implementing a deal to release the hostages, I request to end my position on March 6, 2025,” Halevi wrote to Katz.

The chief of staff vowed in the letter to transfer his command of the military “in a qualitative and thorough manner” to his successor.

With his resignation, Halevi will become the third-shortest-serving permanent IDF chief of staff after Dan Halutz, who stepped down from the role after some 20 months following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster noted that Halevi requested to Katz that he conclude his position after the first 42-day phase of the current hostage deal with Hamas is expected to end on March 1.

Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault—the deadliest single-day attack in the Jewish state’s history and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust—led to a multi-front war against Iran’s proxies and militant allies in the region.

The military’s intelligence lapses prior to the terror attack, as well as its failure to swiftly repel the mass infiltration from Gaza, has prompted a flurry of resignations in the IDF, including by top officials.