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The Israel Defence Forces has dismissed the Gaza Division intelligence officer who was serving during the October 7 Hamas attack, as the military continues to take action against commanders over failures surrounding the massacre.
The officer, identified only as Lt Col Aleph, was formally discharged following a legal battle over his removal. Aleph had allegedly dismissed detailed warnings from a non-commissioned officer about the looming attacks as “completely imaginary.” Aleph was also said to have disregarded warning signs reported by IDF surveillance soldiers on a base in Nahal Oz as unimportant.
He cannot be named because of his role in the intelligence system.
The decision to dismiss Aleph follows a series of internal investigations into the military's failures before and during the Hamas-led attack, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza.
IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir has previously determined that Lt Col Aleph bore command responsibility for the failures. The officer challenged the decision in court, but judges ruled that the process had been conducted lawfully. He can appeal his dismissal.
Lt Col Aleph is among a growing number of senior officers to have left or been removed from the military over October 7.
Major general Aharon Haliva, the former head of military intelligence, resigned in April 2024, saying he accepted responsibility for the intelligence failure. Former IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi and former southern command chief major general Yaron Finkelman resigned in January 2025, also taking responsibility for the military's failure to prevent the attack.
Brigadier general Avi Rosenfeld, who commanded the Gaza Division on October 7, resigned in 2024. Other senior officers, including former operations directorate chief major general Oded Basyuk and former 8200 commander brigadier general Yossi Sharel, have subsequently faced disciplinary measures or been removed from reserve service.
The latest dismissal comes nearly three years after the attack, with Israel still without an independent state commission of enquiry examining the full chain of failures.
The IDF has conducted its own investigations and said they are intended to establish responsibility and implement lessons. But critics have argued that internal military investigations cannot provide a full examination of failures across Israel's political and security leadership.
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