Israeli Air Force failed to act on warning signs before Oct. 7 events, probe reveals

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

An Israeli investigation found that the Air Force has failed to respond to intelligence pointing to plans by the Palestinian group Hamas to launch an attack in October 2023, local media reported on Monday.

The findings surfaced days before the release of an official report by the Turgeman Committee, which is examining the broader military and intelligence failures surrounding the events.

According to Israeli Channel 14, Air Force monitoring units detected “unusual signals and movements” from Hamas drones in the hours leading up to the Oct. 7 events, but the information “remained inside the Air Force” and was never passed to the army command or the chief of staff.

Operations officers exchanged calls at 2:30 am after receiving alerts of “abnormal activity” in Gaza, and some officers were told to prepare, but no field measures were taken. Air Force commander Tomer Bar “remained asleep until 5 am without receiving a single call,” the channel added.

The internal investigation also documented visible transmission signals from Hamas at several locations inside Gaza, detected in real time, but the data “stayed inside the Air Force intelligence system” and triggered no alert level upgrade, the broadcaster said.

The data “was enough to raise the army’s alert status,” yet emergency orders were not activated, planes and crews were not put on standby, and the army was “caught in unprecedented dormancy” when the attack began, the channel said.

According to the outlet, the first version of the probe, presented to Air Force commanders in early 2024, caused “internal shock” because of its direct language about negligence and the evidence it contained of negligence and shortcomings in information transfer, but most of its content was later deleted, and a “cleaner, softer” version was opened.

The Oct. 7 events have been widely labeled in Israel as a political, military, and intelligence failure. Multiple officials have acknowledged responsibility for the failure to detect the attack.

Former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was previously heard in leaked audio praising the “deception” Hamas used. Current Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said last month the army “failed in its mission to protect the state and its citizens” that day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for an official inquiry committee, but insists it must not assign him personal responsibility, while his opponents accuse him of “hysterical attempts to escape accountability.”

A civilian investigative panel in May said the government failed to protect its citizens and concluded Netanyahu “led the country into the greatest disaster in its history,” according to Israeli media.

A subsequent brutal offensive launched by Israel has killed nearly 69,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, injured over 170,000 others, and left the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.