TEL AVIV, October 17. /TASS/. Chief of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Military Intelligence Directorate Aharon Haliva has admitted that the intelligence failure to prevent the Hamas attack on the Israeli territory.

"In all my visits to Military Intelligence Directorate units in the last 11 days, I sat down and stressed that the beginning of the war was an intelligence failure," he said in his missive. "The Military Intelligence Directorate, under my command, failed to warn of the terror attack carried out by Hamas. We failed in our most important mission, and as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I bear full responsibility for the failure."

"What needs to be investigated, we will investigate, in the deepest and most comprehensive way, and draw the conclusions. But now, there is only one task, to fight back and to win," he emphasized.

Israeli National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi said on October 14 that Israel had failed to prevent the October 7 attack by armed Hamas militants. He noted however that Israel had no concrete warnings about Hamas’ plans, including from Egypt. According to Hanegbi, Israel’s general security services called an extraordinary briefing on new intelligence data two and a half hours before the attack, but mobilization was not declared.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank. More than 2,800 Palestinians have been killed and around 11,200 others injured. In Israel, at least 1,500 people have lost their lives and almost 4,200 have been wounded.