The Israeli army said that the head of Israeli military intelligence resigned today, Monday, due to the failures surrounding the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on October 7, thus becoming the first high-profile figure to resign due to his failure to prevent the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

The resignation of Major General Aharon Haliva could pave the way for further resignations among senior Israeli security officials due to the Hamas attack, when militants breached Israeli border defenses and swept through Israeli communities unchallenged for hours, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking nearly 250 hostages to Gaza. This attack marked the beginning of the war against Hamas in Gaza, which has now entered its seventh month.

Haliva wrote in his resignation letter submitted to the army, "The intelligence administration that was under my command was not up to the task entrusted to us. I carry that black day with me since then, day after day, and night after night; I will carry with me the pains of this terrible war forever."

Haliva's resignation, along with that of other military and security leaders, was widely expected in response to the glaring failures that led to the October 7 attack and the scale of its brutality.

However, the timing of the resignations was unclear as Israel continues to fight Hamas in Gaza and confront the Lebanese Hezbollah group in the north. Tensions with Iran have also peaked following the attacks between the two adversaries, and some military experts indicated that resignations at a time when Israel is engaged on multiple fronts are irresponsible and could be seen as a sign of weakness.

Shortly after the attack, Haliva publicly stated he took responsibility for failing to prevent it as the head of the military administration responsible for providing the government and army with intelligence warnings and daily alerts.

While Haliva and others accepted blame for their failure to stop the attack, others did not, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he would answer tough questions about his role but did not explicitly acknowledge direct responsibility for allowing the attack to occur. He also did not indicate that he would step down, despite growing protests calling for elections soon.

For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the resignation, calling it "justified and honorable."

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "It would be appropriate for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the same."

The Hamas attack, which occurred on a Jewish holiday, caught Israel and its proud security establishment completely off guard. The sense of confidence among Israelis in their army — which most Jews view as one of the country's most trusted institutions — has been shattered in the face of the Hamas attack. The resignation could help restore some of that confidence.

The attack has led to a devastating war that has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry. The ministry's statistics do not differentiate between fighters and non-fighters, but it states that at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.

The fighting has devastated Gaza's two largest cities and forced 80% of the coastal enclave's population to flee to other parts of the besieged territory, sparking a humanitarian catastrophe that has raised warnings of impending famine.

The attack has also sent shockwaves throughout the region. Beyond Hezbollah and Iran, tensions have shaken the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as cities and towns within Israel itself.

The Israeli police reported on Monday that a vehicle struck pedestrians in Jerusalem, resulting in three people being lightly injured, and security camera footage showed two men exiting the vehicle with a rifle before fleeing the scene. The police later stated that they had arrested the two men.