Israeli comptroller vows mass probe into failures on October 7
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Matanyahu Englman vows not to leave any "stone unturned".
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Israeli occupation forces walk in front of a destroyed IOF police station during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 8, 2023. (AFP)
As he laid out the limits of the massive inquiry Wednesday, Israeli Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said his office will "leave no stone unturned" in its examination into the various failings that happened before, during, and after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Englman stated that his office will investigate all elements of the "multi-system failures", including those who have "personal responsibility" for the "failures on all levels - policy, military, and civilian." The investigation would take up the lion's share of the agency's efforts through 2024, he added, implying that it will replace quarterly reports on other operations.
The Comptroller's office will investigate various areas like the conduct of the government's security cabinet and lawmakers on October 7, intelligence preparedness before the event, preparedness of civilian security squads in the Gaza envelope region before the war, and the lack of equipment for Israeli occupation forces, as well as Hamas funding.
Investigations will also be conducted regarding settler relocations after the war, evacuation of injured Israelis, and the government's public diplomacy activities.
Englman and the Israeli Comptroller's Office will also investigate the process of developing the newly authorized additional budget for war costs, as well as the execution of financial support programs for Israelis impacted by the war.
Englman expressed Wednesday that the operation "changed the reality on a national level," adding that during his recent travel across occupied territories, he visited evacuated settlements, displaced settlers, and hospitals, stating that “failures that were exposed in the security response on the day of the massacre continued with a series of gaps in the civilian response.”
The Israeli Comptroller has chastised the administration numerous times, accusing it last week of failing to appropriately address the various civilian issues that developed on the home front during the first six weeks of the war on Gaza and stated in a report that the operation of government departments and agencies was seriously weak.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, he expressed there was "no justification for the late awakening of the Israeli government."
Intel on timing of 'major Hamas attack' cast as unimportant
According to Israeli media, months before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Israeli Shin Bet security service received intelligence that the Palestinian Resistance was planning “a big move,” giving the specific time the operation was scheduled, but the intelligence was cast away as unimportant.
According to Israeli Channel 12, the Shin Bet received the information that Hamas was planning an operation during the week after Yom Kippur.
The report details that although the source reported the news to Shin Bet members, they deemed it unimportant, believing that “if this really nears implementation, we’ll receive additional intelligence."
According to reports, the material was not brought to the notice of senior Shin Bet officers, and agency director Ronen Bar was unaware of it.
After October 7, Bar expressed that “despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately on Saturday we were unable to generate a sufficient warning that would allow the attack to be thwarted," he said, adding, “As the one who heads the organization, the responsibility for this is mine."
The material was discovered after October 7, as part of the investigation into how the service was unaware of the impending operation.
According to unnamed Shin Bet sources, no other intelligence had been discovered to support the information at the time, and the reliability of the source was deemed unclear, though they have since admitted that he is highly reliable.
