Netanyahu releases Oct 7 morning schedule showing he spoke to IDF chief only 3 hours after Hamas began invasion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday released his schedule for the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, amid recent controversies over his conduct and actions that morning during the Hamas invasion and massacre.

His office said it released the schedule “following incorrect reports that were recently published.”

The move comes several days after Netanyahu’s wife Sara implied in an interview that the quick reaction of retired IDF Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, chairman of the left-wing "Democrats" party, indicated that he had advance knowledge of Hamas’ planned attack. Golan was among the first non-active-duty soldiers to don his gear that morning and, on his own initiative, rush toward the border to rescue civilians from the carnage.

Among the most important facts revealed by the schedule is that the first direct contact between Netanyahu and then-IDF chief Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, came only over three hours after the invasion began, though the reason for this remains contested.

The full schedule as released by the Prime Minister’s Office reads:

“06:29 – The military secretary informs the prime minister for the first time that there is an attack from the Gaza Strip.

06:44 – Second update call with the military secretary. The prime minister asks why nothing had appeared in the intelligence conveyed to him, asks to check whether a large-scale reserve mobilization is required and whether it is possible to carry out an assassination of the Hamas leadership.

07:30 – The prime minister leaves for the Kirya (Defense Headquarters) after the prime minister’s convoy has been prepared.

During the ride – The prime minister speaks with the defense minister (Yoav Gallant), who updates him that there is no clear situational picture. The prime minister instructs that a situational assessment be convened in the pit (IDF underground command center) under his leadership.

Around 08:00 – The prime minister arrives at the Kirya.

08:40 – The defense minister convenes the IDF chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet to formulate a situational picture ahead of the discussion with the prime minister.

08:30 – 09:30 – The prime minister requests and receives intelligence updates and ongoing updates from the field from the military secretary’s staff.

09:47 – The prime minister’s military secretary receives, for the first time, the situational assessment document that the head of the Shin Bet had at 05:15 that morning.

09:55 – The prime minister holds a situational assessment in the pit with the participation of the defense minister, chief of staff, director of the Mossad, head of the Shin Bet, national security adviser and head of the Operations Directorate. The prime minister instructs that the border line be hermetically sealed to prevent hostages from being taken to Gaza and to prevent the continued entry of terrorists, rejects the IDF’s recommendation for partial reserve mobilization and instructs a full mobilization, and orders the issuance of a war order and preparations for the northern front.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the prime minister holds a limited security consultation with the defense minister and the chief of staff.”

Several of the events and their timing remain contested, including apparent contradictions with an earlier version released by Netanyahu's office (PMO). For example, the earlier diary version stated the “drive to the Kirya” was between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., while the new schedule says Netanyahu arrived there “around 8:00,” and the Shin Bet previously said he arrived at 8:22 a.m.

The new schedule also appears to confirm that former IDF Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman indeed attempted to change the record of the timing of the second call between Netanyahu and the military secretary to 6:29 a.m. instead of 6:40-6:44 a.m., as the schedule shows.

Braverman was questioned by police in November 2024 on suspicion that he sought to make it appear that Netanyahu had immediately ordered a security assessment to be convened during their first – and ostensibly only – call at 6:29 a.m., rather than telling his military secretary to call again 10 minutes later and only then ordering the meeting, as reported by Israeli media.

Netanyahu has repeatedly implied or stated outright that he was not woken up during the night and informed of the developing situation before the border was breached because the security establishment feared he would order a significant attack on Hamas and thereby create a miscalculation that would provoke a further escalation.

However, Ynet News reported that Netanyahu had on several occasions ordered that military action against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran be avoided to prevent such a “miscalculation.”

In recent years, right-wing influencers and commentators have blamed the security establishment for being hesitant to strike Hamas and withholding information from the political leadership out of fear of a miscalculation.

In the eyes of many (mostly right-leaning) Israelis, this is a key part of the prevailing security “conception” (conceptzia) that directly led to the Oct. 7 failures.

In an Instagram livestream on Tuesday as part of his election campaign, Netanyahu claimed that, had he been alerted earlier, he would have “woken up all the communities, woken up all the security coordinators and told the air force to be ready to strike and kill anyone approaching the fence.”

“I am not telling you that some [terrorists] wouldn’t have breached [the fence],” he quickly added, while noting that he would have canceled the Nova music festival as well. “It is so obvious that all of this could have been done.”

Speaking to Channel 14 on Sunday, he also claimed that on the night of Oct. 6-7, “there was an assessment [by Israel’s security chiefs] that ‘we generals, heads of the security establishment, we are responsible people'.”

“'And these politicians, including the prime minister, are laymen… We know how to act responsibly. And acting responsibly requires preventing a situation of miscalculation… If, heaven forbid, we wake the prime minister, he’ll say, ‘Wake up the whole IDF immediately. Scramble the air force. Nobody should be allowed to cross that fence; maybe some will cross, but it doesn’t matter. This could cause Hamas to attack us.'”