IDF Chief of Staff Acknowledges Military Failure on October 7th

On the third anniversary of the October 7th massacre, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued a special order of the day to soldiers and commanders. In the message, Zamir directly addressed the military's failure on the morning of the surprise attack, stating, "On the holiday of Sukkot 5784, our borders were breached in a bloody attack on Israeli citizens. The IDF failed in its supreme mission to protect them." He described the devastation left by the attack in the Western Negev communities, where "our fields became battlegrounds, and family homes turned into sites of slaughter and abduction." Zamir noted that the entire nation mourns the civilians murdered in their homes and at parties, the hostages, and the security forces and emergency response teams who went into the inferno and fell in battle. "The memory of the fallen and murdered will stand before our eyes and remind us of the magnitude of the responsibility entrusted to us," he wrote.

Alongside the mourning, Zamir emphasized the Israeli society's cohesion and the heroism of the generation revealed that morning. He praised the regular and reserve soldiers who charged into the fire, leaving their families time and again to protect their homes. However, he clarified that the army's moral and professional duty is to investigate the events and ensure lessons are applied, "to be more worthy of the trust the people have placed in us." Looking ahead, the Chief of Staff stated that since October 7th, the IDF has been engaged in a prolonged campaign in nearby and distant arenas, during which enemies have been harmed, capabilities destroyed, and hostages rescued. He pledged to continue building the army's strength for future challenges and committed to preventing the re-empowerment of terror organizations: "We will identify threats as they emerge and strike them. We will ensure that this people, who returned to their land, will never again be uprooted from it."