Head of IDF 8200 military intelligence unit resigns, takes responsibility for Oct 7 failures

IDF Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel, commander of the Israeli military’s elite 8200 military intelligence unit, resigned from his position on Thursday, officially taking responsibility for failure to prevent the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre despite receiving ‘detailed information’ about Hamas’ operational attack plans.

Sariel noted that despite “the detailed information that was produced and distributed about Hamas’ plans and its preparations did not succeed in shattering the foundational intelligence and military understandings either within the unit or among our partners. Despite the expectations of us.”

Sariel notified his commanders that “on October 7 at 6:29 a.m. I did not fulfill my mission as I expected of myself, as my commanders and subordinates expected of me, and as the citizens of the nation I love so much expected of me.”

The commander of IDF military intelligence added that given the scale of the failures, “and in accordance with the state of the war,” he intends to “carry out my personal responsibility as the commander of 8200 and pass the baton to the next shift.”

The Israeli military announced that Sariel would be replaced in the upcoming period.

Sariel is not the first senior IDF commander to resign from the Israeli military due to failure to prevent the Oct. 7 surprise invasion and terror attack on Israel's southern border communities. The attack resulted in the brutal massacre of 1,200 and the kidnapping of 251 into the Gaza Strip, 96 of whom are still in Hamas captivity.

In April, IDF Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva, the commander of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, resigned from his post after assuming responsibility for the Oct. 7 failure.

”Along with authority comes heavy responsibility,” Haliva wrote in his letter to IDF Chief Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi. “The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill its task. I have carried that black day with me ever since, every day, every night. I will forever bear the terrible pain of the war,” he added.

In June, IDF Gaza Division Commander, Brig.-Gen. Avi Rosenfeld resigned from his post after taking responsibility for not preventing the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7.

“On October 7, I failed in my life’s mission to defend the [ Gaza] envelope, Rosenfeld stated, referring to the Israeli border communities adjacent to the Gaza border. The IDF general noted that the southern Israeli military units were taken by surprise amid the massive Hamas invasion.

“On the morning of Simchat Torah, a war broke out by surprise, without warning. For many hours, we failed to defend the communities, the tens of thousands of residents, the thousands of revelers at the party in the Reim parking lot, and the forces at the outposts against the thousands of terrorists who invaded our territory on dozens of routes in an all-out attack by the Hamas terrorist army,” Rosenfeld stated.

The IDF initially estimated that some 3,000 Hamas terrorists and Palestinian accomplices crossed the Israel-Gaza border and took part in the atrocities against the mostly civilian Israeli population on Oct. 7.

However, the IDF recently updated its assessment and now believes that as many as 6,000 terrorists invaded Israel.