ISRAEL’S military intelligence chief resigned today for failures that allowed Hamas to conduct its October 7 cross-border assault, which killed over 1,100 people and took about 250 hostage.

The Hamas raid from Gaza, which Israel has held under an illegal siege since 2007, prompted Israel’s full-scale invasion of the territory which is now in its sixth month and has killed more than 34,000.

Major-General Aharon Haliva announced: “The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. 

“I carry that black day with me ever since. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever.”

Ever since the scale of Hamas’s attack, which bulldozed border fences and disarmed military outposts before attacking civilian targets including a concert and kibbutzes, became clear, questions have been asked as to how it was able to carry it off. It has been called Israel’s biggest intelligence failure since the 1973 surprise attack by Egypt and Syria, which attempted to reclaim territory (the Sinai peninsula and Golan Heights) which Israel had conquered from them in 1967.

In November, Israel’s KAN public broadcaster reported on leaked reports from Israeli spies warning that Hamas was planning a major attack and had been rehearsing hostage-taking scenarios.

But senior officers dismissed the warnings, with one reportedly saying a Hamas attack over the border was “an imaginary scenario.”

Gen Haliva is the first senior figure to resign over the failings, with army and political leaders having said so far that a full investigation into what went wrong should wait until after the war.

The top spook had publicly acknowledged blame shortly after the attack, leading to speculation as to why he has decided to quit now. 

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the resignation was “justified and dignified” and called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to follow suit.

Huge protests demanding Mr Netanyahu’s resignation have taken place in recent weeks, as Israel’s allies grow cold over the enormous civilian death toll from its war and the government is perceived to be putting surviving hostages at risk. A poll today found 85 per cent of Israelis have “little or no” trust in the current government.