Hamas deceived us, ex-Israel chief of staff says

Former Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said that Hamas was able to deceive Israel before its cross-border incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023.

A recording published by Army Radio yesterday revealed that Halevi praised Hamas’s deception of Israel, stating: “I have no choice but to praise Hamas for the deception it perpetrated on us.”

Halevi left his post in early March and was succeeded by Eyal Zamir.

Halevi said: “They used disturbances and humanitarian concerns to lull us to sleep and prepare the attack – and they succeeded.”

“In all the military exercises we’ve done and in all the discussions we had, we didn’t think that 5% of what happened [that day] could happen,” he added.

READ: Israel: Hamas ‘hasn’t budged an inch’ in negotiations