Israel's military publishes first report on 7 October 2023 failures

Israel's subject has published its archetypal authoritative relationship of the mistakes that led to its failures during Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.

The study concludes that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) "failed successful its ngo to support Israeli civilians".

The 19-page study contains overmuch that is already known astir what led to catastrophic nonaccomplishment of astir 1,200 lives erstwhile astir 5,000 gunmen from Hamas and different Palestinian groups stormed into Israel, besides taking 251 hostages successful the process.

There are nary melodramatic revelations, but it does outline however the subject misjudged the Palestinian equipped group's intentions and underestimated its capabilities.

The study says the subject regarded Gaza arsenic a secondary information threat, with precedence fixed to Iran and Hezbollah. Its argumentation towards Gaza, it says, was "paradoxical: Hamas was illegitimate, yet determination was nary effort to make an alternative".

The subject had chosen a "conflict management" attack to dealing with Gaza, it says. And had assumed that Hamas was "neither funny [in] nor preparing for a large-scale war" - a cognition reinforced by Hamas's ain deception tactics.

Evidence from 2018 onwards suggesting that Hamas - which is proscribed arsenic a violent radical by Israel, the US, UK and different countries - was so processing an ambitious program was interpreted arsenic "unrealistic oregon unfeasible", reflecting "Hamas's semipermanent aspirations alternatively than an actionable threat".

The study says that successful the months starring up to the war, the Military Intelligence Directorate began to make a caller assessment, suggesting that Hamas' program was not simply a imaginativeness but "a factual model for operational planning".

However, this emerging appraisal was not brought to the attraction of elder officials successful subject intelligence.

The study identifies a wide streak of complacency wrong the subject astir Hamas's intentions and however to woody with the menace it posed.

"There was nary heavy treatment of the question: What if we are wrong?" the study says.

Over time, "a important and continuous spread betwixt the quality assessments of Hamas and reality" had developed.

The study besides highlights what it says was "a diminution successful heavy familiarity with the enemy's antithetic worldview, including its culture, religion, connection and history".

It calls for heavy betterment of the quality directorate's culture, "fostering intelligence openness, scepticism, listening, learning, debate, and constructive disagreement".

It says the tendency to support highly invaluable quality sources contributed to the military's nonaccomplishment to rise the alert level instantly earlier 7 October.

The Gaza Division, it says, "was efficaciously defeated for respective hours" connected 7 October, importantly impairing its quality to recognize what was going connected and respond effectively.

It says the Air Force responded quickly, but that "there was important trouble distinguishing betwixt IDF troops, civilians and terrorists".

The study besides says that successful immoderate incidents, wounded soldiers were evacuated earlier civilians.

After presenting the findings to commanders connected Monday, the IDF's outgoing main of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said helium took afloat work for the failures.

"I clasp my responsibility. It is mine. I was the commandant of the service connected 7 October and I person my work and I person each of your responsibility. I spot that arsenic excavation too. And I spot that successful each bid of excavation that went wrong, determination is besides a portion of me," helium said successful a video.

Last month, the wide announced his resignation implicit the failures and called for a committee of enquiry to transportation retired a broader probe that would assistance forestall different attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not acknowledged immoderate work for what happened connected 7 October, has said specified a authorities enquiry should hold until the extremity of the war.

His critics impeach Mr Netanyahu of being unwilling to admit immoderate idiosyncratic fault.

Israel responded to the 7 October onslaught by launching an aerial and crushed run successful Gaza, during which astatine slightest 48,365 radical person been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run wellness ministry.