Israel’s top general resigns over Oct. 7 failures, adding to pressure on Netanyahu

JERUSALEM —  Israel’s top general resigned Tuesday, taking responsibility for security failures tied to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the war in Gaza and adding to pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has delayed any public inquiry that could potentially implicate his leadership.

While a fragile new cease-fire in the Gaza Strip held, Israel launched a “significant and broad” military operation in the occupied West Bank, killing at least nine people and injuring 40, Palestinian officials said.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the security and intelligence breakdown on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led militants carried out a land, sea and air assault into southern Israel, rampaging through army bases and nearby communities.

The attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants abducted another 250. More than 90 captives are still in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead.

Halevi’s resignation, effective March 6, came days into the cease-fire with Hamas that could lead to an end to the 15-month war and the return of remaining captives. Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, head of Israel’s Southern Command, which oversees operations in Gaza, also resigned.

Their resignations will likely add to calls for a public inquiry into the Oct. 7 failures, something Netanyahu has said must wait until the war is over. Halevi’s resignation letter noted that the military’s investigations into those failures were “currently in their final stages.”

And Halevi made his most explicit call yet for a public inquiry in comments to journalists, saying it would be “granted full transparency” by the military.

Halevi had appeared to be at odds with Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, over the direction of the war. He said Israel had accomplished most of its goals, while Katz echoed Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas. Katz replaced the popular Yoav Gallant, who Netanyahu dismissed in a surprise announcement in November after growing disagreements over the war.

Another major operation in the West Bank

The cease-fire that started Sunday does not apply to the West Bank, where Israel announced a new operation against Palestinian militants in Jenin. The city has seen repeated Israeli incursions and gunbattles with militants in recent years.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on security forces to use “maximum restraint” in the West Bank, a spokesman said.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek an independent state encompassing all three territories.

The West Bank has seen a surge of violence during the war in Gaza. Israeli troops have carried out near-daily raids that often ignite gunbattles. There has also been a rise in attacks on Palestinians by Jewish extremists — including a rampage in two Palestinian villages overnight Monday — and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Hamas condemned the Israeli operation in Jenin, calling on Palestinians in the West Bank to step up attacks. The smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad militant group called it a “desperate attempt” by Netanyahu to save his governing coalition.

Netanyahu faces domestic criticism over cease-fire

Netanyahu faces criticism from far-right allies over the cease-fire, which requires Israeli troops to pull back from populated areas in Gaza and envisions the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including militants convicted of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.

Hamas has already returned to the streets, showing that it remains in control of the territory despite the war killing tens of thousands of Palestinians — including some Hamas leaders — and causing widespread devastation.

The cease-fire’s first phase is to last for six weeks, with 33 hostages gradually released. Three hostages and 90 prisoners were released Sunday, when it took effect. The next release is Saturday. Talks on the far more difficult second phase begin in two weeks.

One of Netanyahu’s erstwhile partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir, quit the government on Sunday, weakening the coalition but still leaving Netanyahu with a parliamentary majority. Another far-right leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to leave if Israel does not resume the war after the cease-fire’s first phase.

Separately on Tuesday evening, Israel’s emergency rescue service said four people were stabbed and wounded in Tel Aviv in what police described as a terror attack. Police said the unidentified attacker was killed.

New bodies found in Gaza

With the calm of the cease-fire, emergency responders looked through rubble for bodies they had been unable to reach before.

“We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days,” civil defense worker Haitham Hams said in the southern city of Rafah, as colleagues unearthed a thigh bone and a pair of pants.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. Halevi on Tuesday said close to 20,000 militants had been killed, without providing evidence.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 72 bodies had been taken to hospitals over 24 hours, almost all of them recovered from attacks before the cease-fire. An unknown number of bodies remain unreachable because they are in northern Gaza, where access remains restricted, or in buffer zones where Israeli forces are.

Nearly 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the third day of the cease-fire Tuesday, the United Nations said — significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal — in a rush to supply food, medicines and other needs it has described as “staggering” for the population of over 2 million people.

“Most importantly, we want things that will warm us in winter,” one of the many displaced Palestinians, Mounir Abu Seiam, said Tuesday as people gathered in the southern city of Khan Yunis to receive food.

Lidman and Tufaha write for the Associated Press. Lidman reported from Jerusalem, Tufaha from Jenin, West Bank. AP writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed to this report.