Former IDF official: For every person killed on October 7, '50 Palestinians need to die'

"They need a Nakba from time to time to feel the price," former IDF Military Intelligence Directorate chief Aharon Haliva said.

Leaked recordings aired by Israel’s Channel 12 captured former IDF Military Intelligence Directorate chief Aharon Haliva arguing that the failures of October 7 require a deep structural overhaul of Israel’s defense establishment.

Haliva also made incendiary remarks about Palestinian casualties, criticizing newly appointed cabinet ministers for inexperience, and describing prewar plans to target Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif.

“We are the best army in the world, we are the best country in the world,” Haliva was heard saying as he reflected on the war across several fronts and the country’s condition.

Responding to claims that “beepers” were his doing, he said, “Nothing is because of me. It is not about me, it is not even about people. It is something much deeper, over many years.” During the war, “beepers” or pagers became shorthand for emergency alerts that mobilized units and staff.

Haliva, who headed the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate (known in Hebrew as AMAN), said the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7 “demands a much deeper correction. It is not a matter of changing one person. Can we replace the chief of staff and everything will be fine? I oppose the view that this was an accident. What happened requires dismantling and reassembly.”

Addressing a core intelligence failure, he said, “One of the hardest problems before October 7 was the belief that intelligence was omnipotent. It is not just arrogance, it is deeper.”

Haliva added, “When I was asked at 50th anniversary events for the Yom Kippur War whether this could happen again, I said yes. I know what happened at Pearl Harbor, I know what happened on 9/11, and I know what happened in 1973. I am telling you today, it can happen again.”

Haliva said his goal in postwar reviews was to push the next such failure from “once every fifty years to once every hundred years.”

He rejected claims that the night before October 7 should have triggered a different response, explaining that with a strong pre-existing “concept” that intelligence would provide clear warning, reacting to every single report would require keeping “300,000 reservists on duty every day.” He described intelligence as a “crazy puzzle” in which isolated fragments appear constantly. Israel relies heavily on reserve forces. Large call-ups carry significant economic and social costs and are typically used only when an attack is deemed imminent.

The cost of terrorism

According to the recordings, Haliva said the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) had already begun planning to kill Hamas leaders before October 7.

“I was told, on the last slide of my visit, that after the holidays we were opening a joint reorganization with Shin Bet to collect intelligence on Deif and Sinwar in order to kill them, because every time we prepared a plan they moved, and you have to re-collect on them,” he said, referring to Muhammad Deif, the Qassam Brigades’ longtime military commander, and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza.

In the most explosive passage, Haliva asserted, “The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations. For everything that happened on October 7, for every person on October 7, 50 Palestinians need to die. It does not matter now if they are children. I am not speaking from revenge. I am speaking to future generations. They need a Nakba from time to time to feel the price. There is no choice in this crazy neighborhood.” Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” is how Palestinians refer to the 1948 war and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Haliva also discussed the hours before the attack, saying his aide called once overnight to report “an unusual development” that was being handled by Southern Command and the relevant operations officer, and that he would be awakened again if needed. “There are Shin Bet documents from that night that say, ‘In our assessment, the quiet will be maintained.’ Everything is documented,” he said, while insisting the broader issue was the prewar mindset rather than a single night’s missed cue.

He described IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi as “not a negligent person, he is paranoid, God help us.” Scheduling an 8:30 a.m. assessment on October 7, Haliva said, reflected that “everyone feeding him intelligence gave him the sense there was an unusual development, not something immediate.”

Haliva sharply criticized the inexperience of some members of the current security cabinet. He singled out National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, saying, “What do you expect such a person to do? Learn. This is a serious profession. Start learning intelligence, operational plans, capabilities, munitions, and other relevant topics. Smotrich did not know what ‘Nukhba’ was,” he added, referring to Hamas’s elite commando units. “Today, they explained they did not know there was starvation of hostages. How much intelligence do they read? How many briefings do they receive? How many deep security discussions on Gaza did they hold? Check.”

Asked whether Israel’s policy had rested on his assessment that Hamas was deterred, Haliva said no. “This prime minister is very attentive, the most attentive person in the world. He listens, he reads. You can also say he is very timid, so he would be alarmed by other things. He does not rush to wars; he does not rush to strike. He had doubts. All of that is fine. But in the end, in the test of results, everything failed.” He did not name Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the clips quoted, although Israeli media linked the remarks to him.

Bereaved mother Sheli Mashal-Yogev, whose daughter Libi Cohen-Meguri was murdered on October 7 after going to dance at the Nova festival near Re’im, blasted Haliva in an interview with Kan News following the leaked recordings.

“Since when did taking responsibility become a fig leaf? What is taking responsibility? Take blame,” she said, adding, “He showed not a drop of anguish. We are the ones in anguish.” Mashal-Yogev said she watched the report twice and could not sleep: “He says the Shin Bet failed, the government failed, the army failed. Where are you? Thousands were murdered. Libi is buried, and I am tormented. He says, ‘I took responsibility,’ and goes out with a fat pension?”

She continued, “Do not claim responsibility and a minute later fly abroad. Sit humbled in my living room and explain yourself,” and added, “The word ‘responsibility’ does not absolve you. You are guilty that my Libi is buried. Take the blame upon yourself. You say ‘the IDF erred in a years-long concept.’ You are the concept.” She stressed Haliva is not alone: “We are not absolving the government, the Shin Bet, the police, or the chief of staff. They are all guilty. No one has moved.”