Israel's military chief, Eyal Zamir, announced the dismissal of several high-ranking reserve officers and reprimands for others, pinning blame on the catastrophic lapses that enabled the Palestinian resistance’s October 7, 2023, operation from Gaza.

The operation, which led to the death of around 1,139 Israelis, preceded a sweeping offensive in Gaza that has left more than 69,700 Palestinians dead—including over 20,000 children and 9,000 women. Many international observers, including UN officials and human rights groups, have characterized the campaign as genocide.

That day, the Israeli military resorted to the controversial “Hannibal Directive,” a measure that saw Israeli lives lost to their own fire.

The operation laid bare deep flaws in Israel’s security system.

Zamir labeled the episode a “severe, resounding, systemic failure” that betrayed the trust of Israelis and emboldened Palestinian resistance.

An internal probe, released earlier this month, decried “long-standing systemic and organizational failures,” including an “intelligence failure” despite “exceptional, high-quality information” at hand.

It lambasted deficient decision-making and force deployments that night, underscoring breakdowns across the chain of command.

The new removals include former intelligence directorate head Aharon Haliva, operations chief Oded Basyuk, and southern command leader Yaron Finkelman.

Former Gaza Division commander Avi Rosenfeld and Unit 8200 chief Yossi Sariel also face permanent dismissal, while Air Force commander Tomer Bar and Navy chief David Saar Salma received reprimands for failing to defend airspace and prevent sea infiltration at Zikim Beach.

The removals build on a wave of earlier measures, where several top commanders have already been fired or resigned, including former Military Intelligence Directorate head Aharon Haliva in April 2024, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in January 2025, and Southern Command head Yaron Finkelman in January 2025.

This purge follows mass protests in Tel Aviv, where thousands demanded an inquiry into the failures—a probe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime has stonewalled, reinforcing what many see as a deliberate cover-up.