Ex-Netanyahu Aide Details Pre-Oct 7 Warnings, Claims Protocol Tampering

Former Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, Maj. Gen. (res.) Avi Gil, revealed new details about the hours preceding the Hamas attack on October 7th in an interview with Channel 12. Gil, who served as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's military secretary at the time, described receiving intelligence at 3:55 AM on October 7th indicating suspicious signs in Gaza. However, the intelligence was phrased as "routine" or "not unusual," leading the duty intelligence officer to not wake him.

Gil was awakened at 6:12 AM by a call from the Shin Bet chief of staff, who informed him of suspicious signs including the activation of SIM cards and Hamas leaders descending into underground bunkers. He was also told that the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, had ordered a "Tequila" team to the south, but no assessment of an imminent attack was presented. At 6:22 AM, Gil called the IDF chief of staff's office and began receiving alerts about rocket fire toward southern Israel. He then called Netanyahu, informing him that Hamas had launched a large-scale attack and that he suspected a surprise assault.

Gil stated that by 6:40 AM, he told Netanyahu, "We are at war." Netanyahu arrived at military headquarters at 8:45 AM. Gil rejected claims that security officials intentionally withheld information from the Prime Minister that night, stating, "Was there a failure? Was the interpretation of the facts wrong? Absolutely yes. Do I think, based on the data and facts I know, that someone intentionally hid or intentionally withheld information? That is a lie."

A significant claim made by Gil concerns an alleged attempt to alter the record of his call with Netanyahu on the morning of the attack. He stated that in late October 2023, he learned of an unusual collection of protocols and stenograms from the Prime Minister's office. In January 2024, a stenographer told him that Netanyahu's Chief of Staff, Tzachi Braverman, instructed her to change the recorded time of a 6:40 AM call to 6:29 AM. Gil reported this to the Attorney General via a handwritten note, emphasizing that this was an attempt to alter the truth and that the attempt was discovered before it was completed.

Shelly Meshel Yogev, mother of a Nova massacre victim, questioned why no one has been arrested for the alleged protocol alteration. Shir Matias, whose parents were killed in Kibbutz Holit, criticized Netanyahu and his staff for allegedly rewriting history and changing protocols, stating that if Netanyahu had heeded security recommendations, her parents would be alive.