IDF Chief Fires Senior Officers Over Oct. 7 Failures as Defense Minister Orders 30-Day Review

Overview

• The IDF said 13 senior figures were held accountable, with 10 fired or sent into retirement and three receiving reprimands tied to the 7 October 2023 attack.
• Those removed include former military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, former operations director Oded Basyuk and former Southern Command head Yaron Finkelman.
• Reprimands were issued to Air Force commander Tomer Bar and Navy chief David Sa'ar Salama, while current AMAN head Shlomi Binder was reprimanded and is slated to leave pending a separate decision.
• Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered a new 30‑day review to reassess the commission’s conclusions, examine missed warnings, civil‑military coordination and specific operational errors, and set criteria for personal responsibility.
• According to Ynet, Katz learned of the dismissals from media reports and has temporarily frozen potential promotions for Brig. Gens. Eliad Moati and Manor Yanai and Col. Efraim Avni pending the follow‑up review.