DaysofPal- Aharon Haliva, the former head of the Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate during the October 7 attacks, has admitted in closed recordings that Israeli forces deliberately sought the killing of 50,000 Palestinians as a message of deterrence to future generations.
The shocking revelations, reported by Israeli Channel 12, highlight the scale of intentional civilian targeting during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Haliva, who resigned months after the surprise Hamas-led assault, acknowledged his failure in carrying out his responsibilities that day.
He justified the staggering Palestinian death toll, stating, “The fact that there are 50,000 dead in Gaza was necessary and required for future generations. To say to them: you humiliated us and killed us, but this is the price. I said after October 7 that it was necessary to kill 50 Palestinians for every Israeli killed, children, women, it doesn’t matter. This had to be done as a message for the future.”
The former intelligence chief described the collapse of Israeli military command on the morning of the attack, admitting that the Gaza Division had been completely subdued, leaving the army powerless.
He also criticized the Israeli military establishment for underestimating Hamas’s capabilities, dismissing warnings of an above-ground attack.
“We mocked the idea. We thought: why would they build tunnels if they were planning to come above ground? We underestimated them, and paid the price,” he said.
Haliva went on to slam what he called Israeli “strategic arrogance,” claiming the state had long been blinded by its belief in its military and intelligence superiority.
“We believed we were invincible, with Shin Bet, Mossad, Aman, surveillance, and one of the strongest armies in the world. We thought our enemy was deterred and could be pacified with Qatari money,” he admitted.
The revelations also shed light on internal Israeli political divisions. Haliva described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “very cowardly and a failure,” and former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi as suffering from “delusions of grandeur.”
He called for a formal inquiry into the October 7 failures and accused the Shin Bet of a complete intelligence collapse, saying they failed to secure even the smallest warning despite vast resources.
He further criticized far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, saying they “know nothing about security, don’t read intelligence reports, and were not even aware Hamas had elite forces. Now they claim there is no famine in Gaza. What intelligence are these people even reading?”
Haliva’s confessions provide one of the clearest indications yet that Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, was not merely a response to Hamas’s October 7 attack but also a deliberate strategy of mass killing designed to impose collective punishment and instill generational trauma.
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