News- Middle East: A former spy chief of the Israeli military says the October 7 operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas that targeted areas in the occupied territories exposed deep systemic failures in the regime that were far beyond a mere intelligence lapse.

In a series of leaked recordings aired by Israel’s Channel 12, Aharon Haliva said Hamas’ unprecedented Operation al-Aqsa Storm was enabled by "something much deeper, spanning many years, that requires a much deeper correction”. 

Haliva, who had previously taken public responsibility for the failures, has become the first senior Israeli figure to acknowledge that Tel Aviv had failed to foresee and prevent the Hamas operation, which he said had consequences that were "severe and painful”.

The former intelligence chief, who stepped down in the aftermath of the operation, sharply criticized senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for refusing to resign after the October 7 attacks. 

He said that the intelligence community’s arrogance masked deeper cultural failures that had persisted for years.

“With authority comes responsibility,” Haliva said, urging those in senior positions at the time to step down or face dismissal. He also warned that the Israeli regime cannot recover from the ongoing war with the Palestinians with the same authorities in place.

Since the October 7 operation, Netanyahu has unleashed a full-scale military campaign against Gaza, threatening to “eliminate Hamas.”

The genocidal war has so far killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, while devastating many homes, hospitals, and schools.

A mid-August report by the New York Times, citing US and Israeli officials, said Netanyahu’s regime had "reached the end of the line" on the battlefield with Hamas. The officials acknowledged the Israeli military "would never be able to completely eliminate the group”.

Source: Press TV