The former head of military intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called the deaths of 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza “necessary and required for future generations” in leaked audio.
Aharon Haliva can be heard in newly released audio clips saying that for every person who died during 7 October, “50 Palestinians must die”, even if they are children”. The audio clips were aired by Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
“The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations. OK, you humiliated, you slaughtered, you murdered, everything is true,” said the former military chief.
It is unclear when the statements were made, but Gaza’s health ministry has recently reported that more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, when Hamas launched an attack that resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people.
“The price, I said before the war… For everything that happened on October 7, for every person on October 7, 50 Palestinians must die,” Mr Haliva said in a translation reported by the Jerusalem Post and other media. “It doesn’t matter now if they are children. I’m not speaking out of revenge, I’m speaking out of a message to future generations. They need a Nakba every now and then to feel the price.”
The term “Nakba” means catastrophe in Arabic and is used to describe the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 during the creation of the Israeli state.
Mr Haliva was the IDF’s head of military intelligence when the 7 October attack happened. He resigned from his position in April 2024 over his “leadership responsibility”, becoming the first senior IDF officer to do so.
It remains unclear who Haliva was speaking to in the lengthy recordings, as Channel 12 does not identify them. He claims throughout the recordings that the Israeli military is not the only organisation responsible for the failures that led to the attacks. He pointed fingers at Israel’s political leadership and the country’s home security service, Shin Bet, for believing Hamas would not carry out an attack. The Independent has contacted the IDF for comment.
Mr Haliva responded to Channel 12’s reporting by expressing his regret for the recorded conversations: “The leaked recordings were published from things said in a closed forum, and I can only regret that.”
He called the recordings “fragments of partial things, which cannot reflect the full picture – certainly when it comes to complex, detailed issues, most of which are highly classified”.
“The October 7 disaster occurred on my watch as head of the Intelligence Division”, he said, adding: “I bear ultimate responsibility for what happened.”
