The Media Line: Netanyahu Releases 55-Page Response on October 7, Points to Intelligence Assessments and Gaza Disengagement  

Netanyahu Releases 55-Page Response on October 7, Points to Intelligence Assessments and Gaza Disengagement  

By The Media Line Staff  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night published a redacted 55-page reply to questions from State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman regarding the October 7 attack, releasing the document after the comptroller’s review was halted by a High Court of Justice ruling. Three pages were blacked out. In the text, Netanyahu did not accept responsibility for the failures that preceded the assault in which thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251.  

Addressing what he described as the roots of the strategic breakdown, Netanyahu cited Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and the 2005 Gaza disengagement when he was not prime minister. He wrote that the core problem lay in the loss of Israel’s intelligence and defensive advantage against Hamas, saying security bodies had assessed that deterrence was working and recommended maintaining that policy. He added that those assessments did not reflect intelligence and indicators that later emerged pointing to Hamas training and force buildup ahead of a large-scale raid.  

Netanyahu detailed his first awareness of the attack, writing that at 6:29 a.m. he received a WhatsApp message from his military secretary and spoke with him again at 6:44 a.m. He said he immediately sought clarity on the scale of the assault, whether kidnappings were taking place, whether reserves should be mobilized, and whether there was an opportunity to eliminate Hamas leadership, “from Sinwar southward.” He also questioned how “nothing appeared in the intelligence.”  

The prime minister released additional material, including a summary from an October 3 intelligence assessment that, he said, contained no reference to a planned invasion or Hamas offensive intent. He also cited a July 31 meeting with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in which Bar described rising daily threat warnings from Gaza. Netanyahu responded at the time, “You need to kill someone,” while Bar said a covert warning was being prepared for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.  

Netanyahu read excerpts during a security cabinet meeting and said political rivals had previously opposed assassinating Hamas leaders. In a video, he reported his meeting with Englman lasted four hours on December 25, 2025.  

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu had ignored repeated warnings before October 7. Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot called the document selective and distorted. The October Council, which is organizing a protest in Tel Aviv, said the release sought to obscure the full picture without context.