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Manual Aslim walks through the rubble of her destroyed home, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) -
Israeli police check the body of a suspected attacker at the scene of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum /Haaretz) -
Palestinians chase humanitarian aid trucks that arrived through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) -
FILE – Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, center, attends a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, on Oct. 27, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP, File) -
Medics evacuate a wounded man during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed). -
Members of the Abu Sheiban family return to their home in Rafah, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) -
An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows Palestinians walking through the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra) -
FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, Pool, File) -
ADDS THE WORD SUSPECTED – A Palestinian stands beside a torched car in the aftermath of an attack by suspected Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Jinsafut, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) -
ADDS THE WORD SUSPECTED – A Palestinian youth sifts through the aftermath of an attack by suspected Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Jinsafut, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) -
Palestinian youth watch as a bulldozer clears rubble from a street damaged by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) -
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman walks past an installation, and a mural of portraits of hostages held by Hamas, in Gaza, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) -
Israeli forces work at the scene of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Tomer Appelbaum /Haaretz via AP)
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 ceasefire 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 — the single deadliest on Israel in its history — 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 ceasefire 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.”