Israeli Military Chief Urges Comprehensive Probe Into Failures Behind October 7 Hamas Attack

Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, on Monday called for a “systemic investigation” into the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, as the government continues to delay the creation of a formal state commission of inquiry.

Zamir’s call came after the release of a report by an expert committee he had appointed to review the military’s internal performance during the attack. He said the findings marked the conclusion of the army’s own internal investigations, but stressed that a broader, government-led probe was now essential.

“The expert committee’s report presented today is a significant step toward achieving the comprehensive understanding that we, as a society and as an organization, require,” Zamir said.
“However, to ensure that such failures never recur, a broader understanding is needed — one that encompasses inter-organizational and inter-hierarchical interfaces that have not yet been examined.”

Public pressure for a national inquiry has grown steadily, with polls showing widespread support across the political spectrum for identifying who bears responsibility for Israel’s worst security failure in history.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has resisted calls to launch such a probe, arguing that it should wait until the ongoing war in Gaza concludes. Under Israeli law, the government must authorize a national commission, but the Supreme Court appoints its members — a point of contention for Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, which has long accused the court of left-leaning bias.

When pressed in parliament Monday, Netanyahu accused the opposition of trying to turn the inquiry into a “political tool.” He instead proposed creating a commission based on “broad national consensus,” comparing it to the U.S. 9/11 Commission — a suggestion swiftly rejected by opposition lawmakers.

Hamas’s October 7 assault killed 1,221 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel’s subsequent two-year military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 69,179 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The expert committee’s report acknowledged that Hamas’s attack occurred despite “high-quality and exceptional intelligence” already in the possession of multiple Israeli military units.

“Despite the warning, the necessary military actions were not taken to improve alertness or readiness, nor to adjust the deployment of forces across different arenas,” the report stated.

It concluded that the failures reflected a “long-standing systemic and organizational breakdown” spanning several years and branches of the armed forces.

Earlier this year, a separate internal military probe admitted to a “complete failure” to prevent the assault, acknowledging that the army had underestimated Hamas’s capabilities for years.