Israeli military cites ‘fundamental misunderstanding’ of Hamas ahead of Oct. 7 attack

TEL AVIV — Israel’s military said “glaring” intelligence failures left it unable to protect Israeli citizens on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked the country, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to an official report on Israel’s response to the attack.

The investigation — which has not fully been made public — details a decades-long “fundamental misunderstanding” of Hamas, according to an English summary of the findings provided to NPR by the military. It said that this allowed senior Israeli officers to underestimate the militant group’s capabilities and intentions leading up to the attack.

The military operated on an approach “based on the (incorrect) assumption that Hamas was neither interested nor preparing for a large-scale war,” according to the summary. It stated that Israeli intelligence officials thought the group was more interested in governing Gaza, which it seized control of from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, than fighting Israel.

“In hindsight, Hamas systematically employed deception tactics that reinforced this perception. In retrospect, this was a grave mistake,” it said.

The report is the military’s first official account of mistakes that preceded the 2023 attack — the deadliest in Israeli history — and launched Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza that killed more than 48,000 Palestinians. Israeli military officials said they spent thousands of hours looking into the military’s intelligence gathering and its response.

There has been confusion and anger among Israelis since the attack, many of whom felt the response time of the military was slow and unorganized, with some victims saying they waited hours for soldiers to arrive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has not commented on the military’s investigation and findings. Throughout the war, Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack, saying that he will answer questions about it only after the war ends. The war is currently paused as part of a fragile six-week ceasefire deal that has yet to be extended.

Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the failures leading to Oct. 7, and a majority want a wider inquiry by the government, according to recent polls. Netanyahu has resisted forming a commission of inquiry.

The army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said he took responsibility for the army’s failures.

“I was the commander of the military on October 7th, and I have my own responsibility. I also carry the weight of all your responsibility — that, too, I see as mine,” he said. Halevi is set to step down next week, after announcing his resignation in January.

The release of this report comes as the first part of a three-stage ceasefire ends on Saturday and negotiations are underway for the second phase. American and Israeli negotiators are in Cairo for the talks.

Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv. Yanal Jabarin contributed from Jerusalem.