Israel Orders Dismissals, Public Censure Of Top Commanders Over October 7 Failures

Last Updated:November 24, 2025, 18:55 IST

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said it was not easy to make the decisions to dismiss the senior officers.

Israeli Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, visits the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir has dismissed several senior officers and censured others for their roles in the failures that led to the October 7, 2023 attack.

Lt. Gen. Zamir met top officers on Sunday, having earlier vowed to make “personal decisions" based on the findings of a probe conducted by an external panel of experts.

“It is not easy to make decisions that impact people I value and who have dedicated their lives to the security of the state, people with whom I have fought for decades. Alongside this, before my eyes stands the obligation to draw a clear line for command responsibility. This is not a responsibility we choose to take upon ourselves, but one we bear by virtue of being commanders in the IDF," he said.

According to the Times of Israel, most of the commanders being dismissed had already resigned from the IDF, making the chief’s move “largely symbolic." The censured officers will continue serving until the end of their tenures, some of which extend several years into the future.

“If we do not sharpen the meaning of responsibility, trust in the system will erode, and that trust is the foundation of our ability to fight, to win and to defend the State of Israel," Zamir added.

The report noted that lower-ranking officers were summoned separately by Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai.

In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault, several senior members of Israel’s defence establishment had already stepped aside. Herzi Halevi, the Chief of Staff at the time of the attack, resigned in January 2025, citing responsibility for the intelligence and security failure. Aharon Haliva, the head of Military Intelligence, also quit in April over his role in failing to foresee the assault.

The actions announced by Lt. Gen. Zamir affect both former and serving members of the IDF’s top brass.

Haliva, who resigned in August 2024, will now be formally dismissed from reserve duty and fully discharged from the IDF. The same step will be taken against Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, the former head of the Operations Directorate who finished his tenure in July, and Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, the former commander of the Southern Command who resigned in March. All three had already stepped down from active roles but will now be removed from reserve service as well.

Among serving commanders, Maj. Gen. Shlomo Binder, the current head of Military Intelligence who served as Chief of the Operations Division on October 7, has been censured. He will remain in his post until the end of his four-year term in 2028, after which he will resign from the IDF. The current Air Force chief, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, has also been censured over the failure to intercept drones and paragliders used by Hamas on October 7; he will continue in office until his tenure ends in April 2026. Vice Adm. David Sa’ar Salama, commander of the Israeli Navy, received a similar censure for his force’s failure to repel Hamas’ sea-borne assault on southern Israel and will remain in his role until early 2026.

News world Israel Orders Dismissals, Public Censure Of Top Commanders Over October 7 Failures

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