The head of the IDF’s acclaimed Unit 8200 intelligence unit, Brigadier General Yossi Sariel, has resigned his post over the failure of his unit to sound the alarm about the impending invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Sariel, who heads the SIGINT unit, informed IDF Chief of General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi on Thursday that he is leaving his post.
In the letter distributed within the unit, Sariel wrote, “On October 7, I did not fulfill the mission as I expected of myself, nor as my subordinates, superiors, and the citizens of Israel expected of me. I am seeking to fulfill my personal responsibility as the commander of the unit, and at a time determined by my superiors, I will pass the baton to the next in line.”
Sariel wrote that the factors which led to his decision included “the state of war in various sectors, the resilience and operational continuity of the unit in particular, and Military Intelligence in general, as well as the investigation processes meant to clearly identify the necessary corrections and changes we must undertake … The detailed information we collected and distributed to the various agencies about Hamas’ plans and preparations failed to shatter the basic intelligence and military assumptions, neither within the unit nor among our partners.
“We did not bring the intelligence gold that would or could have determined the H-hour for the attack.”
Sariel is the fourth senior IDF officer to step down over failures to raise the alarm prior to the October 7th invasion during which some 7,000 Hamas-led terrorists tortured and slaughtered 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, wounded thousands of others, decimated dozens of Israeli villages and abducted around 251 people. Of those, 101 are still held hostage in Gaza, although at least 35 have been confirmed by intelligence personnel to have been murdered in captivity.
Earlier this month, IDF Chief of Ground Forces Major General Tamir Yadai resigned from his position, citing “personal reasons” for stepping down.
This past April, IDF Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aharon Haliva became the first military leader to resign over his failure to prevent the October 7th massacre in southern Israel.
Haliva’s announcement was followed by a similar one in June from IDF Gaza Division head Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld, who wrote in his letter of resignation, “On October 7, I failed in my life’s mission to protect the [Gaza Envelope communities.”
