Court Rejects Gaza Division Intelligence Officer’s Petition Over October 7, Clearing IDF to Move Forward With Dismissal

The Administrative Court today (Tuesday) rejected the petition of Lt. Col. A., who served as the Gaza Division’s intelligence officer during the October 7 attack, and ruled that the IDF may immediately continue the process of releasing him from his career-service commitment. As part of the decision, the court also granted the IDF’s request and ordered the removal of the sweeping gag order that had until now been imposed on the legal proceedings and the ruling itself.

The proceedings against the officer began בעקבות the conclusions of the internal investigations conducted by the IDF after the war, as well as after a review of the findings of the military expert team headed by Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman. Based on those findings, the IDF chief of staff determined as early as November 2025 that several senior commanders bore direct command responsibility for the events of October 7, and that command-level steps should be taken against them. Lt. Col. A., who held the sensitive post of Gaza Division intelligence officer, was included on that list of commanders.

Following the chief of staff’s decision, the deputy chief of staff formulated an opinion recommending the officer’s dismissal from service, and it was later decided to open proceedings to release him from his commitment through a dedicated committee. However, the committee’s convening was postponed several times following various requests submitted by the officer. Later, in March 2026, he petitioned the court, which at his request issued a temporary order preventing the committee from convening, alongside a gag order on the very existence of the legal proceedings.

Lt. Col. A. was the only officer among those who held operational roles on October 7 to wage a legal battle against his dismissal, while refusing to accept command responsibility and step down on his own initiative. According to the findings presented, the officer, a graduate of the "Havatzalot" program and the son of a very senior retired officer, was exposed upon entering the position in May 2023 to Hamas’s detailed attack plan, "Jericho Wall." Despite that, it was determined that in a series of emails he dismissed the warnings of an expert noncommissioned officer from Unit 8200, who had warned about training exercises being carried out by Hamas in accordance with the plan, and even described the breach scenario as "completely imaginary."

The findings further showed that on the night before the massacre, despite unusual indications on the ground and a series of phone consultations among the top ranks of the defense establishment, Lt. Col. A. arrived at the division base in Re’im without his personal weapon, went to sleep, and did not order the fighter teams to be awakened or the alert level in the sector to be raised.

The expert committee headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman determined that the Gaza Division, under the officer’s intelligence responsibility, "failed by not carrying out in-depth processes to identify changes in the enemy," and also failed to raise the warning level. In light of these conclusions, the committee recommended his immediate dismissal from IDF service.

In the ruling that was cleared for publication today, the judges rejected all of the officer’s claims. The ruling stated that the process of ending his service, "which was led following the officer’s professional errors, failures, and command responsibility," was conducted lawfully and with full authority. The court also emphasized that army orders allow its authorities to initiate the release of a career-service member who failed professionally and as a commander, and that Lt. Col. A.’s right to present his arguments was preserved throughout the process and was not violated.