Israeli intel unit chief quits over Oct. 7 failure; chief of staff to leave in Dec.

The commander of Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s largest intelligence-gathering unit, has resigned from his position, amid a recent wave of resignations by the regime’s high-ranking officers from various institutions.

Israeli media reported on Thursday that Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel has notified his superiors and subordinates that he intends to resign. The Israeli military said Sariel was due to be replaced “in the coming period.”

8200 is the military’s main signals intelligence unit and is among the units that failed to prevent Operation al-Aqsa Storm by Palestinian resistance groups on October 7, 2023.

It is the same unit whose headquarters was also targeted by Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement as part of its retaliatory attack in late August.

Meanwhile, Israeli chief of staff Herzi Halevi is making preparations to resign in late December, Channel 12 reported, citing conversations Halevi has been having with those around him.

By then, the military is set to have completed all of its internal investigations into the failures surrounding the October 7 operation, it added.

Halevi succeeded Aviv Kohavi as the military chief in January 2023. Military chiefs usually serve for three years, with many serving a fourth year.

Halevi has several times acknowledged full responsibility for failing to thwart the Hamas operation.

A wave of high-profile resignations has shaken the Israeli military since Oct. 7, with several senior officers stepping down, citing intelligence failure to predict operations by Palestinian resistance groups and personal reasons.

The head of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division, Brigadier General Amit Saar, stepped down “due to personal reasons, according to Israeli media.

The head of the Israeli army’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Major General Aharon Haliva, also announced his resignation over his failure to predict the October 7 operation.