“I have no choice but to praise Hamas for the deception it perpetrated on us,” former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a recording published by Army Radio on Sunday.
“They used disturbances and humanitarian concerns to lull us to sleep and prepare the attack – and they succeeded,” he added, regarding the terrorist organization’s atrocities they committed on October 7, 2023.
“In all the military exercises we’ve done and in all the discussions we had, we didn’t think that 5% of what happened [that day] could happen,” he added.
The recording was published after Halevi ended his position as Chief of Staff for the IDF earlier this month and was replaced by Eyal Zamir. He said in January that he would resign due to the military failure during Hamas’s terrorist attacks.
Halevi served in his position for two years and two months.
The recording featuring Halevi was part of the October 7 investigation that was presented to the residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Investigation into attacks on Kibbutz Nir Oz
Kibbutz Nir Oz was among the hardest hit by Hamas’s terrorist attacks, with an IDF probe disclosing on Friday that no IDF soldiers had arrived there before the last of the some 300 to 500 Hamas terrorists attacking the kibbutz had already returned to Gaza.
47 Israelis were killed, and 76 were taken hostage from the kibbutz.
Additional reasons that the kibbutz was abandoned included its geographic distance from other communities bordering Gaza and the perception of it being smaller than some of the other villages. The probe also revealed that the military’s 450th Battalion was only two kilometers away from the Kibbutz but had sent half their forces to Kissufim and Kerem Shalom.
The kibbutz, in response, said that the IDF investigation was “harrowing and deeply unsettling.” They also highlighted the heroism of the community’s emergency response team in resisting the invasion of Hamas terrorists.
The response team of the kibbutz was outnumbered by hundreds and fought alone for nearly two hours, doing everything they could until they were either killed or taken hostage.
“The entire community struggled and fought – there were those who took up arms to defend their homes, those who held their doors shut, those who sent messages and called for help, and those who simply fought for their lives,” the kibbutz added.
Eshkol Regional Council head Michal Uziyahu demanded the IDF and the Israeli government conduct a lesson-learning process for the Hamas attacks and take responsibility for their mistakes. He also demanded that changes be implemented in the defense system for Nir Oz and other communities bordering the Gaza Strip.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
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