Bereaved Families Demand Full Protocols After Military Secretary's Interview

Bereaved families and former hostages have demanded the immediate release of full protocols from conversations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Military Secretary, Avi Gil, on the morning of October 7th. The demand follows an interview with Gil, who stated he noticed "disproportionate material gathering" by individuals close to Netanyahu about two weeks into the war. Gil also reported that the then-Chief of Staff, Tzachi Braverman, allegedly instructed a stenographer to alter the start time of a call between Gil and Netanyahu from 6:40 AM to 6:29 AM on the day of the Hamas attack. Braverman has been questioned about this, denying the allegations and claiming he was correcting an error within his authority.

Gil expressed concern that other documents might have been altered and urged any future investigation committee to rely on full recordings rather than just transcripts. In their letter, the families and survivors, including Yocheved Lifshitz and Einav Tsengauer, warned of serious suspicions of document forgery and evidence tampering, especially given reports of original security discussion documents being held in secure safes at the Prime Minister's office. They stressed the critical need for these original materials to determine the accuracy and completeness of published protocols and transcripts.

The families stated they would not allow the truth about the "most severe failure in the history of the State of Israel" to be hidden or replaced by a version serving those under scrutiny. They called for the immediate opening of the safes and public disclosure of the materials, emphasizing that while the dead cannot be returned and hostages cannot be freed, the truth must not be buried. Gadi Eisenkot, Chairman of the National Unity Party, supported the families' demand, accusing Netanyahu and his circle of distorting public documents and misleading the public since the war's start.

However, the Likud party dismissed Gil's interview as part of a "false propaganda campaign" against Netanyahu. The party reiterated that Netanyahu did not receive advance warning of the Hamas attack, implying that the outcome would have been different had he been informed in real-time.