Overview
- This week Maj. Gen. (res.) Avi Gil gave televised interviews saying he woke Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the morning of October 7, 2023 and told him “We are at war,” and he urged any inquiry to examine original audio recordings rather than written stenograms.
- Gil alleges a stenographer was instructed to change the timestamp of his secure call with Netanyahu from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m. and says he reported the incident in writing to the Attorney General.
- He says Israel Police opened an investigation into whether senior Prime Minister’s Office officials attempted to alter cabinet protocols and phone transcripts and that the investigation file was later transferred to the State Attorney’s Office with no public charging decision.
- Gil also accused Netanyahu of shelving possible hostage‑exchange deals for political reasons and said some captives could have been returned earlier had those deals gone forward.
- Likud forcefully denied the claims, calling them fabricated political propaganda and citing an earlier police recommendation to close the matter, while opposition figures and bereaved families are demanding a full independent commission that would obtain original tapes and Gil’s notebooks.