Netanyahu October 7 Timeline Sparks Fierce Debate Over Initial War Decisions
A detailed timeline of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions on October 7 reveals delays in his arrival at military headquarters. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused him of failing to initiate any operational moves.
First Calls and Reaction in Caesarea
A detailed analysis of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's schedule on the morning of October 7, 2023, published by his office, has raised significant questions within the defense establishment regarding his functioning during the initial hours of the Hamas assault.
Netanyahu received his first call from his military secretary, Major General Avi Gil, at 6:29 AM, informing him of the unfolding attack from the Gaza Strip. This initial conversation was not recorded as it took place via WhatsApp. The second call, at 6:40 AM, was conducted over the secure "red phone" and was recorded. At the time, Netanyahu was at his private villa in Caesarea. The call lasted four minutes, ending at 6:44 AM.
During the call, the military secretary briefed Netanyahu:
"Right now, they are conducting situational assessments, trying to understand what is happening. Yamam counter-terrorism units have been scrambled to Nativ HaAsara. The Gaza Division is currently transitioning to an emergency footing. There is no doubt we are in a completely different type of event."
Netanyahu asked: "Okay, can we take out their leadership?" Avi Gil responded: "Mr. Prime Minister, we are in a broad operation. Give me fifteen minutes, let me also check if we have ground infiltrations. We are at war." Netanyahu countered: "We have no indication, I don't see anything in the intelligence." Gil concluded: "We have nothing. As I told you, a few small incidents have started. But we will have to ask the questions later about how they surprised us."
Netanyahu then instructed to assess the scale of the attack, evaluate the need for mobilizing reserves, and convene the General Staff as quickly as possible. He also questioned whether the attack aimed at abductions, which Gil confirmed was the working assumption.
Former senior defense officials argue that the tactical instructions Netanyahu gave at that moment were meaningless. "Netanyahu says to take out the leadership. So what? What does that mean? Eliminating leaders is for targeted operations, but he was being told we are at war. What does taking out leadership have to do with anything right now? He also ordered to mobilize reserves, but that process had already begun independently," sources noted.
Delays in Departure and Arrival at the Kirya
The phone call ended at 6:44 AM. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) claims Netanyahu departed Caesarea for the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv at 7:30 AM, citing the time needed to "organize the prime minister's convoy." However, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid later testified that a premier's convoy can depart within three minutes without prior preparation. Furthermore, Caesarea residents documented the convoy leaving even later than the officially declared time.
En route to Tel Aviv, Netanyahu spoke with then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who reported that there was still no clear situational picture. According to Shin Bet records, Netanyahu arrived at the Kirya only at 8:22 AM—nearly two hours after the assault began.
At 9:55 AM, Netanyahu convened a situational assessment in the underground command bunker with Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, the Director of the Mossad, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the head of the National Security Council (NSC), and the head of the IDF Operations Directorate. During this meeting, Netanyahu ordered a hermetic closure of the border to prevent hostages from being taken into Gaza, rejected the IDF's recommendation for a partial reserve call-up in favor of a full mobilization, and ordered the issuance of a war directive alongside preparations for the northern front.
Accusations by Yair Lapid
At 4:30 PM, Netanyahu met with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at the PMO in Tel Aviv. Lapid later sharply criticized the prime minister's conduct:
"All of Netanyahu's mouthpieces have hysterically repeated the nonsense that 'he wasn't woken up.' Unlike them, I am one of the few people who actually met Netanyahu on October 7. I sat with him at 4:30 in the afternoon, I know everything that happened there, so I can ask: once he was woken up, what did he do? Until 4:30 PM, Netanyahu barely functioned and did not initiate a single move. Everything is documented in the protocols he is desperate to hide. The military proposed actions, and he approved them without debate. Nothing originated from him."
Lapid added that Netanyahu failed to communicate with the southern communities, did not redeploy brigades, and issued no operational commands, while finding time to speak with then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
PMO Response and Defense Disputes
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's advisor Topaz Luk sparked controversy by tweeting that Netanyahu was the only official functioning and managing affairs on October 7, while the military leadership was in unprecedented shock. Senior defense officials expressed outrage at the tweet, noting that Luk did not participate in any classified discussions and lacked the security clearance to assess the performance of the Chief of Staff or the head of the Shin Bet.
In its official response, the PMO released a detailed timeline, asserting that Netanyahu closely and continuously managed the events from the very beginning. The office emphasized that Netanyahu made sharp, clear decisions, including ordering a full mobilization of reserves instead of the IDF's planned 100,000-man call-up, which ultimately turned the tide of the confrontation.
