Over 600 requests to give testimony, including dozens of requests from IDF reservists and career soldiers, have been submitted to the civilian probe of October 7, the committee running the probe announced Sunday. The requests have come in within the three days after announcing the formation of the committee alone.Dozens of investigators will hear public testimony in the coming week and the committee will begin discussions of information the following week, they added.The committee, announced last Thursday, is composed of security and legal experts and it will investigate the “events before October 7, which formed the foundation for the biggest security failure in the state’s history” and examine the failures of the military and political systems, it said.
The civilian committee said it would investigate until a national committee is formed and the committee was founded because no such state committee exists.“Where the government does not act, the citizens will act,” said committee head Judge Emeritus Gideon Ginat.
"The state of Israel has always drawn strength from the ability to learn quickly, draw conclusions, and face challenges. The hug the committee is receiving from the public is unshakable validation of the importance of the civilian inquiry committee," he said.
Debates over the necessity of a probe
Ginat called on security officials, residents of the Gaza envelope, government workers, and anyone with information to come forward.The announcement of the committee came one day after Israel’s coalition struck down a bill to fund a national investigation of the events leading up to October 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated an argument in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday that an inquiry before the war is over would hamper Israel’s ability to defeat Hamas.Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier this month that a state investigation is necessary. “This commission of inquiry should be objective; it should check all of us – the government, the army, and the security agencies. It needs to check me along with the prime minister and chief of staff,” he said.The High Court Chief Justice appoints a National Committee of Investigation and operates independently of the political echelon. In the past years, Netanyahu refrained from forming them over several issues, including the 2021 Meron disaster in which 45 men were crushed to death.
Testimonies may be submitted to: havaada7.10@gmail.com.
Eliav Breuer and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.