Israeli military chief resigns as Netanyahu vows to fight threat of U.S. sanctions

The head of Israeli military intelligence has resigned after accepting responsibility for the failures that allowed the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.

Major General Aharon Haliva, a 38-year veteran of the military, was one of a number of senior Israeli commanders who said they had failed to foresee and prevent the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

"The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I have carried that black day with me ever since," he said in a resignation letter released by the military on Monday.

He will remain in post until a successor is named. 

In the early hours of the morning of October 7, following an intense rocket barrage, thousands of fighters from Hamas and other groups broke through security barriers around Gaza, surprising Israeli forces and rampaging through communities in southern Israel.

Some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the attack, most of them civilians, and around 250 were taken into captivity in Gaza, where 133 remain as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

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The head of the armed forces, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, and the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, Ronen Bar, both accepted responsibility in the aftermath of the attack but have stayed on while the war in Gaza has continued.

In response to the attack, Israel launched an offensive against Gaza that has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and left the densely populated enclave in ruins.

Netanyahu vows to fight any sanctions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would fight against sanctions being imposed on any Israeli military units for alleged human rights violations, after media reports said Washington was planning such a step.

Axios news site on Saturday reported that Washington was planning to impose sanctions on Israel's Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has operated in the occupied West Bank, though the Israeli military said it was not aware of any such measures.

On Friday, the United States announced a series of sanctions linked to Israeli settlers in the West Bank, in the latest sign of growing U.S. frustration with the policies of Netanyahu, whose coalition government relies on settler parties.

"If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the Israel Defense Forces - I will fight it with all my strength," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Meanwhile Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif backed Iran for taking a strong stand on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities there.

Addressing a joint media session alongside visiting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Islamabad, Sharif called on Muslim countries to unite and raise their voice for an end to the conflict.

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