The Israeli army’s chief of workers, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, introduced on Tuesday that he would resign in early March, citing partially the military’s failure beneath his command to guard Israelis from the Hamas-led assaults on Oct. 7, 2023.
The heavy toll of the assaults — 1,200 killed in Israel and 250 others taken hostage to Gaza — had lengthy include an expectation in Israel that at the very least a few of the nation’s leaders would in the end resign. Only some officers have completed so, and Normal Halevi is the highest-ranking army chief to step down thus far.
“My duty for the horrible failure accompanies me daily, each hour and can for the remainder of my life,” he mentioned in a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Israel Katz, the Israeli protection minister, asserting his resignation.
Mr. Netanyahu has rebuffed calls to resign or take full-throated duty for the disastrous failure to predict and prevent Hamas’s attack. He has mentioned he should reply “troublesome questions” after the battle.
Normal Halevi introduced he would resign simply two days after Israel and Hamas started a 42-day truce, the primary part of a cease-fire and hostage launch deal. On Sunday, Hamas released three feminine hostages held in Gaza for the reason that 2023 assaults in alternate for 90 Palestinians, principally ladies and minors, jailed in Israel.
Citing the settlement with Hamas, Normal Halevi mentioned the timing was “now ripe” for him to depart, since hostages had begun to return residence. He additionally mentioned that the Israeli army had scored plenty of main achievements, permitting him to bow out with Israel’s “deterrence and may” restored.
However he additionally conceded that Israel’s battle goals — which embrace Hamas’s destruction and the return of all of the remaining hostages — had “but to be achieved.” Within the wake of the cease-fire, Hamas forces have reasserted their management over a lot of Gaza, and many of the hostages nonetheless stay within the enclave.
Mr. Netanyahu by no means absolutely clicked with Normal Halevi, mentioned Amos Harel, the army affairs commentator for Haaretz, an Israeli each day. After the Hamas assaults, Mr. Netanyahu more and more tried to shift the blame for the catastrophe to the army chief, Mr. Harel mentioned.
With Normal Halevi, who was appointed by the prime minister’s centrist opponents in 2022, out of the image, Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative allies now hope for the chance to nominate a army chief who extra intently aligns with them.
Exhausting-line authorities figures like Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, have additionally criticized army leaders like Normal Halevi for not launching an much more aggressive marketing campaign in Gaza. Their criticism stood diametrically against accusations by human rights teams that the Israeli army had dedicated battle crimes.
In an announcement, Mr. Smotrich praised Normal Halevi earlier than rapidly noting that he had lengthy criticized the final for his “failure within the marketing campaign to get rid of Hamas’s civilian and governing powers.” He mentioned he hoped Normal Halevi’s resignation would herald a extra hawkish mind-set among the many prime army brass.
“The approaching interval shall be marked by a change within the senior army command as a part of the preparations to renew the battle, and this time, God prepared, till full victory,” mentioned Mr. Smotrich, who opposed the cease-fire cope with Hamas.
Extra resignations are anticipated within the coming weeks and months. Aharon Haliva, the top of Israel’s army intelligence, resigned in 2024, as did the top of the Israeli army’s Gaza brigade. Shortly after Normal Halevi’s announcement, one other common — Yaron Finkelman, head of the army’s southern command — mentioned he, too, would resign, though he didn’t give a date.
Over the previous 15 months, Normal Halevi, 57, who assumed the army’s prime publish in early 2023, has overseen Israeli forces by the battle in Gaza, a floor invasion of Lebanon, army operations in Syria and strikes in Iran.
Israel has eradicated practically 20,000 Hamas operatives and decimated the chain of command within the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Normal Halevi mentioned in a televised assertion on Tuesday night.
“The Center East has modified,” he mentioned. “The map of threats has reworked fully.”
The Israeli army will finalize a collection of inside inquiries into its failure on Oct. 7, 2023, earlier than his departure, Normal Halevi mentioned. Mr. Katz, the protection minister, has ordered the army to hurry up the method, which has been delayed for a number of months.
However Normal Halevi mentioned the army’s inquiries into its advanced failures have been inherently restricted. He prompt that an impartial investigation into the assaults was obligatory, which Mr. Netanyahu has thus far declined to convene.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.
