3 years after Oct. 7, IDF chief awards soldier who warned of Hamas invasion, vows military is learning lessons

On Sunday the Israel Defense Forces marked three years since the catastrophic Hamas invasion and massacre of Oct. 7, 2023 with a conference for the senior brass focusing on investigating the failures and implementing lessons from that fateful event.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said that today, “We are building the IDF’s strategy with readiness for a surprise war as our reference scenario, including the preemptive thwarting of severe threats as they develop – this is our operational compass.”

“One of our greatest lessons is the need to expand our margin of security,” Zamir stressed.

“The State of Israel is a geographically small country without territorial depth, and it faces multi-front threats. We must build the IDF’s force structure in light of all challenges and threats. The size of the IDF is our strategic depth. Therefore, we must expand the IDF and adapt it to its growing missions.”

As part of this process, Zamir also chose to honor a veteran intelligence soldier only identified by the first letter of her name, “Vav.”

The Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) serving in Signal Intelligence Unit 8200 had raised serious warnings of a wide-scale surprise attack by Hamas ahead of the Oct. 7 invasion, but her reports were ignored.

Zamir stressed it was “important” to honor Vav as a “clear example of intellectual courage and professionalism.”

“In our organizational culture, we must not allow people-pleasing discourse, intellectual tyranny, or the suppression of critical thinking. As commanders, we must ensure that we require freedom of expression from our people as an essential component of our operational culture and within our frameworks,” he said.

“Vav” had reportedly sent an urgent email message to several IDF officers shortly before the terror attack, pleading for them to “warn the people.” Unit 8200 had reportedly compiled a relatively accurate picture of Hamas’ strategic invasion plan and circulated it among IDF intelligence officers in a dossier on Sept. 19, 2023.

After the dossier was ignored, “Vav” took the initiative and sent an email warning that “the training shows us that the ‘Jericho Wall’ plan is an operative, practiced plan, meaning that Hamas already has forces that have practiced these outlines and know how to implement [them] when the order comes.”

The plan outlined exercises by Hamas’ Nukhba forces drilling raids on Israeli towns and IDF outposts, gave instructions on how to take hostages and when they are allowed to be killed, and even estimated a target number of 200-250 hostages.

The document was sent to senior intelligence officials, including those within the Gaza Division, but no action was taken on it.

Last Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court permitted the publication of the name of the intelligence officer of the Gaza Division who had dismissed “Vav’s” warnings as “completely imaginary.”

Unlike other senior officers, he has not publicly acknowledged his role in the tragedy or stepped down of his own accord. IDF Lt.-Col. Aryeh Amidror was among a group of officers whom Zamir dismissed in November 2025 over their failures, but he continued to fight the ousting, as well as the publication of his name, in court.

Amidror reportedly also had a role in ignoring the warnings of IDF surveillance soldiers, who had reported unusual training exercises and other activities near the border.

The case has received renewed attention because his father, Yaakov Amidror, has regularly appeared on Israeli television since Oct. 7 without disclosing his son’s role. Amidror, a retired general, former head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division and former national security advisor, has also repeatedly opposed a state commission of inquiry into the disaster.

At Sunday’s conference, Zamir said the IDF concluded that “the investigations into the failures of October 7th, with an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster, alongside the understanding that we must not sink into them, but rather learn, draw lessons, implement them, and move forward.”

Various parts of the General Staff presented the processes for implementing the lessons learned, as well as oversight mechanisms for their implementation. The IDF said the conference was the first stage in a series of investigations into the war as a whole, which are expected to be completed soon. This will include investigations into Operation Roaring Lion (the war with Iran), followed by a summary of the lessons learned from the war.

“The events of October 7th continue to accompany us, and our duty is to ensure that they do not happen again… on October 7th, the IDF failed severely, but the IDF got back on its feet and proved itself to have a determined spirit, bringing about a historic and unprecedented multi-front victory; this was thanks to the bravery of the male and female troops, their sacrifice, the leadership of the commanders, and inter-branch cooperation.”

“Our message is clear: Whoever threatens to harm us and builds the capabilities to do so – we will act in advance and strike them with a decisive blow,” Zamir concluded.