JERUSALEM: Israel’s military announced the dismissal of three generals and disciplinary actions against several other senior officers over their failure to prevent the October 2023 assault by Hamas, the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
The move comes two weeks after Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir called for a “systemic investigation” into the failures that led to onslaught, even as the government dragged its feet on establishing a state commission of inquiry despite public pressure.
The list of generals fired included three divisional commanders, one of whom was then serving as the military intelligence chief.
A military statement released on Sunday said they bore personal responsibility for the armed forces’ failure to prevent the attack.
The firing comes after all three had already resigned from their posts, including the former head of the southern command General Yaron Finkelman.
Disciplinary actions were also announced against the heads of the navy and air force along with moves against four other generals and several senior officers.
It remains to be seen how or if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might also be pinned with blame for having a role in the inability to prevent the Hamas onslaught. For the past two years, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the failures that lead to the October 7 attacks should be addressed after the war in Gaza ended.
According to polls, a large number of Israelis across the political spectrum support the establishment of an inquiry to determine who is responsible for the authorities’ failure to prevent the attack.
Netanyahu’s government has so far refused to form such a commission.
Missile attack
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Gaza near the line demarcating areas of Israeli control on Monday, underlining the struggle to broaden a fragile ceasefire deal approved over six weeks ago to global acclaim.
Palestinian medics said incidents involved an Israeli drone firing a missile at a group of people east of Khan Younis, killing two and wounding another, and a tank shell killing a person on the eastern side of Gaza City.
Israel’s military said it had fired after identifying fighters crossing the so-called yellow line and approaching its troops, posing an immediate threat to them.
Hamas and Israel signed a truce on October 9 halting two years of devastating warfare but the agreement left the most intractable disputes for further talks, freezing the conflict without resolving it.
Both sides have since accused each other of deadly breaches of existing commitments in the agreement and of pushing back against later steps required by US 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who helped the US develop the plan and who Trump has said may join the board of peace, met the PA’s deputy leader Hussein al-Sheikh in the West Bank on Sunday.
Sheikh said in a social media post they had discussed developments following the Security Council resolution and requirements for Palestinian self-determination.
Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation in Cairo, led by its exiled chief Khalil al-Hayya, held talks with Egyptian officials on exploring the next phase of the ceasefire, according to Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza Separately, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday that at least 342 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the truce.
