The IDF announced on Tuesday that it will present its first probe in a series of October 7 probes – the investigation into the failure to defend Be'eri – on Thursday.

According to the military, the results of the probe will first be presented to the families of those who fell at Be'eri on October 7, including the Be'eri residents as well as the many security forces from the IDF, Shin Bet, and police.

This presentation will take place at a large amphitheater in the Dead Sea area early Thursday afternoon.

Later Thursday night, the results of the probe, including extensive diagrams and video footage will be posted on the IDF’s website.

The Be'eri probe is the first of a series of IDF probes, which will come out on a rolling basis through July and August, into the October 7 failure to prevent Hamas’s invasion.

According to the previous media leaks, the IDF probes will find numerous cases of: friendly fire errors leading to tragic deaths, of groups of IDF soldiers who were too hesitant to confront Hamas invaders (even as some groups rushed to fight who had not yet been summoned), of higher up commanders ordering some groups of soldiers to remain in a reserve second line capacity when they should have headed into the front, and specifically of not knowing how to handle complex battlefield questions involving hostages in Be'eri.

Consequences of the findings

One of the consequences of the findings to date, some of which are final, but some of which are interim, could be freezing the promotion of Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram to ascend to the post of commander of the Gaza Division.

Hiram has been one of the most controversial commanders of the war.

On one hand, he allegedly gave controversial orders to fire on residential units which included both Hamas terrorists and hostages, potentially killing the hostages.

Even this narrative is debated, as his attack order may have been focused on saving his soldiers who were under fire, and it is also debated as to whether there was any way to secure the hostages release without attacking the Hamas guards who held them.

In any event, the other side of the coin has been that after October 7, Hiram was highly successful in a number of battles.

Further, his command skills were viewed as significantly responsible for ousting Hamas from Be'eri at a time when other nearby commanders had been killed or had fled.

This means that some hostage families would raise an outcry if he were given that Gaza Division command, while many in the military would object if he is not given the command, viewing him as one of the most successful and battle tested commanders.

Aspects of a major probe

Aspects of a major probe on the IDF and defense establishment’s general national security and defense concept related to Gaza and Hamas over the years will be presented by key officers to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi already in early July, but will only be publicized to the public later in the summer after they are integrated with other issues.

This probe will look all the way back to 2018, but not earlier.

The IDF said that it expected that as part of an eventual state inquiry and eventual State Comptroller report, such probes might look further back in time, but that if the IDF had gone back further than 2018, it would have also meant delaying publicizing the results to the public.

IDF Maj. Gen. Mickey Edelstein led the probe on Be'eri. 

Besides Be'eri, there are around 40 probes of other individual battles which occurred in the South relating to October 7 which will be publicized on a rolling basis from mid-July and through August.

A probe specifically on the events of October 6 leading up to the Hamas invasion, and specific warnings and operational moves made or not made during that period, will likely be publicized in early August.

The IDF started the process for the probe in March.

Despite the IDF probe, most defense officials are calling for a state inquiry which would also probe the decisions and actions of the government.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had opposed any state inquiry, fearing its political consequences for his coalition.