Former Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has acknowledged that Hamas successfully misled Israel ahead of its cross-border attack on 7 October 2023.
A recording released by Army Radio yesterday captured Halevi admitting to Hamas’s strategic deception, stating, “I have no choice but to praise Hamas for the deception it perpetrated on us.”
Halevi stepped down from his position in early March, with Eyal Zamir taking over as his successor. Reflecting on the attack, Halevi explained that Hamas exploited humanitarian concerns and disturbances to create a false sense of security before launching its assault. “They used disturbances and humanitarian concerns to lull us to sleep and prepare the attack – and they succeeded.” he said.
He further admitted that despite extensive military exercises and discussions, Israel had not foreseen the scale of the attack. “In all the military exercises we’ve done and in all the discussions we had, we didn’t think that 5% of what happened [that day] could happen,” he added.
