Israel-Gaza war: Israel PM Netanyahu blames security officials, Army intel for Hamas attack, says ‘no warning given'

livemint.com:

Israel-Gaza war LIVE Updates His comments caused a huge political uproar and also led to a rift within his war cabinet. After drawing criticism for not taking responsibility for the intelligence and operational failures surrounding the Hamas attack, Netanyahu deleted the tweet on social media platform X at 1 a.m.

Sunday (about 2300 GMT on Saturday). Also Read: PM Netanyahu says ‘do or die’ as Israel-Gaza war enters ‘long and difficult’ second stage From heads of the military and the Shin Bet domestic spy service to finance ministers, many top officials have come forward to acknowledge their failures.

Netanyahu's post said: “At no time and no stage was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding war intentions of Hamas. On the contrary, all security officials, including the head of army intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, estimated that Hamas was deterred and interested in an arrangement." Also Read: Israel envoy Naor Gilon calls for adding Hamas to India's terror list, 'It's time to...' Earlier, PM Netanyahu used to shrug off questions of accountability for the surprise attack by Hamas.

Before the post, he had only said that there would be time to ask tough questions, including of himself, after the war. After his comments, Israel's military spokesperson chose not to respond and said, “We are now at war, focused on the war." His remarks were rebuked by current and past allies.

The former defense minister and the present member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, Benny Gantz, asked Netanyahu to take back his comments and let the matter go. "When we are at war, leadership must show responsibility, decide to do the right things, and bolster the forces in a way that they can carry out what we demand of them," Gantz