IDF chief Halevi walking tightrope with Oct. 7 probe
One soldier killed in South, two wounded in the North
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi implied on Tuesday that he will open an internal IDF review of the failure to stop Hamas’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel in the coming weeks.
While part of Halevi’s speech at a conference held by the Air Force emphasized the idea of moving forward with the internal probe, the IDF chief said nothing about the external probe that he had originally tried to kick-start on January 4 and that was to be led by former IDF chief Shaul Mofaz.
Following withering criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and without support from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Halevi seems to have dropped this probe or delayed it indefinitely until after the internal investigation.
Netanyahu has opposed any broad probes about October 7 and has challenged anyone trying to label him as bearing partial or significant responsibility for the failure.
In political and security terms, this means that the IDF, rather than former defense officials who were not involved, will be judging its own errors and that no broader strategic issues will be raised.
Halevi defended the delay in the internal probe until now, saying that the IDF had to focus on defeating Hamas as well as managing the conflict with Hezbollah.
Also, the IDF released the name of Maj. David Shakuri on Tuesday evening as the latest Israeli soldier to have fallen in combat in Gaza. Shakuri, 30, from Rehovot, was a deputy commander of the 601st Battalion of the 401st Brigade. He was killed in combat in
northern Gaza.
The IDF continued mopping up operations throughout northern, central, and southern Gaza on Tuesday but has largely achieved operational control except in Deir al-Balah and Rafah, where most of the 2.3 million Palestinian civilians are and where Hamas’s leadership and the Israeli hostages may be.
In the North, Israeli Air Force jets targeted a military building used by Hezbollah in the region of Marwahin in southern Lebanon, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported on Tuesday.
In addition, on Monday night, jets attacked Hezbollah’s operational infrastructure in the Meiss Ej Jabal area in southern Lebanon.
IDF artillery also fired toward areas in southern Lebanon to
remove various threats.
The military further noted that artillery forces also fired at the sources of rocket fire into Israeli territory on Tuesday. As a result of these rockets, two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded and evacuated for medical care.
Earlier on Tuesday, an IDF unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacked a target in the village of Marwahin, N12 reported, citing Lebanese sources.
On Tuesday night, the IDF produced new documents that it obtained from tunnel areas in Khan Yunis, purporting to show the transfer of $154 million in funds from Iran to Hamas. It showed envelopes of funds provided to Hamas Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar and the seizing of large volumes of Hamas funds that were left behind.