Israel‘s former army chief Herzi Halevi has admitted that Hamas “lulled” the military into a false sense of security ahead of the 7 October attack, describing the group’s tactics as a successful deception.
Halevi confessed that the Israeli army had failed to deter and confront the Hamas-led attack, adding that the group had “deceived” the army, according to an audio recording published by Israeli media on Sunday.
“There is no choice. I have to commend Hamas for the deception and fraud they practised against us,” he said in the leaked recording.
He noted that the group’s methods pushed them “into a lull and hypnosis”, allowing them to succeed.
The leaked recording comes after Halevi officially left his position earlier this month, following increased pressure to hold him accountable for the Hamas-led attack.
“In all the operations and military exercises we’ve conducted; we never imagined a scenario like this. Not even five percent of a scenario like this,” he said in the recording.
According to Halevi, Hamas managed to “deceive” Israel by “making them believe that their demands were merely humanitarian”.
The confession was leaked to the Israeli Maariv newspaper following a meeting last Thursday between Halevi and the outgoing southern command commander Yaron Finkelman with residents of Nir Oz, which was one of the most affected by the attack.
Halevi announced in January that he would resign from his role, which he carried out for over two years, due to the military’s failures following the attack.
An Israeli army investigation revealed that no soldiers reached Nir Oz until after the last of approximately 300 to 500 Hamas fighters had already retreated to Gaza, according to Israeli media.
Around 47 Israelis were killed and 76 were taken captive from the settlement, the investigation found.
The findings also revealed that the settlement was abandoned by soldiers due to its location and the perception that it was much smaller than other border settlements.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel launched a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip in response to the attack.
Gaza’s government media office states that over 61,700 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, which has flattened entire neighbourhoods and plunged the enclave into a deep humanitarian crisis.
Despite a fragile ceasefire agreement in effect in mid-January, Israeli forces have continued to attack Gaza, killing at least 150 people since.
