IDF chief announces resignation over 7 October ‘failure’

Israel's army chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, resigned on Tuesday, citing ‘failure’ during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. 

‘Acknowledging my responsibility for the army's failure on October 7, and at a time when the armed forces are scoring significant successes on all fronts and with a new hostage release agreement underway, I ask to end my duties on March 6, 2025,’ General Halevi wrote in the letter, published by the army. 

Halevi, 57, had held the post since December 2022. In the statement, the general also stresses that ‘not all’ of the war's objectives ‘have been achieved’ after more than 15 months of fighting. Despite this, he said the army ‘will continue to fight to further dismantle Hamas and its power capabilities’. 

Halevi explained that ‘for 40 years’ protecting the state of Israel was ‘his life's mission’. However, on the morning of 7 October, the army, under his leadership, ‘failed in its mission to protect Israeli citizens’, he added. 

That morning, hundreds of Hamas terrorists managed to breach the border barrier between the Gaza Strip and Israel, completely surprising the Israeli authorities and leaving at least 1,210 people dead, mostly civilians. In addition, 251 hostages, including women, young children and elderly people, were taken into Gaza. 

Despite this major security failure, Halevi notes that the army managed to recover ‘from its lowest point at the beginning of the war and fight strongly for more than a year and three months on seven different fronts’.

‘The army caused severe damage to Hamas's military capabilities and created the conditions for hostages to be returned, dealt unprecedented blows to Hezbollah and significantly weakened Iran and its activities in the region,’ the general recalls, noting that the IDF ‘defends communities in the Golan Heights from inside the buffer zone in Syria after destroying most of Syria's military capabilities’. ‘In the West Bank, the IDF operates effectively day and night to prevent terrorism,’ he adds.  

In the letter, the general also admits that responsibility ‘for this tremendous failure’ will be with him ‘for the rest of his life’. In addition to Halevi, the army announced the resignation of the head of the military command for the southern region, responsible among others for the Gaza Strip, General Yaron Finkelman. The only resignation of a senior commander in the Israeli army after 7 October 2023 had so far been that of General Aaron Haliva, head of the intelligence service, who left his post in April 2024. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for his service, noting his ‘great achievements for the State of Israel’ during the war on several fronts. Similarly, Israeli President Isaac Herzog sent a message of appreciation to the chief of staff, stressing ‘his great achievements’. 

Halevi's resignation comes after a ceasefire agreement came into force in Gaza to free Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity, one of the objectives of the war.