Israeli military intelligence chief resigns

Palestinians inspect the debris after Israeli bombardment at Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City. Pic/AFP

The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on Monday over the failures surrounding Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7 attack, the military said, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel's history.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva's resignation could set the stage for more resignations among Israel's top security brass over Hamas' attack, when militants blasted through Israel's border defences, rampaged through Israeli communities unchallenged for hours and killed 1,200 people, most civilians, while taking roughly 250 hostages into Gaza. That attack set off the war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month.

"The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever," Haliva wrote in his resignation letter, which was provided by the military.

Haliva, as well as other military and security leaders, were widely expected to resign in response to the glaring failures that led up to Oct. 7 and the scale of its ferocity.

1,200
No. of people killed in the Oct 7 massacre

Palestinian baby born an orphan

Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it. Their home was hit by an Israeli airstrike shortly before midnight Saturday. Until that moment, the family was like other Palestinians trying to shelter from the war in Gaza's Rafah city. Sabreen's father was killed. Her 4-year-old sister was killed. Her mother was killed. Emergency responders learned that her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, was 30 weeks pregnant when they found her.

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