Jerusalem: Israel's military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva resigned taking responsibility for failing to stop Hamas attack in October, saying he is still living with that ‘black day’, news agency AFP reported.
The decision comes as Israel’s retaliation against the war triggered by Hamas continues to rain down misery over Gaza.
Over the past three days, health workers in Gaza uncovered about 200 bodies of the people that Israeli forces killed and buried at a hospital in Khan Yunis city, it is reported citing the area’s Civil Defence agency.
Haliva, who is the first top Israeli official to resign over the Hamas attack, said his resignation letter: ‘the intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with,’ adding that, ‘I carry that black day with me ever since.’
During the Jewish Passover holiday began on Monday, families have been asked to leave an empty seat at tables to represent a hostage held by Hamas.
An estimated 129 captives captured by Hamas on October 7 still remain in Gaza, which include ‘34 who the military says are dead’, according to the report.
The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the death of 1,170 people in the country, AFP reported based on Israel’s official estimate.
The subsequently war that Israeli forces carried out killed at least 34,151 people in Gaza alongside razing down large number of buildings, according to the health ministry run by Hamas claimed.
In the midst of these reports, the territory’s Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that bodies are being recovered from inside Nasser Medical Complex, adding ‘since Saturday bodies of nearly 200 martyrs have been retrieved’.