Brig. Gen. (res.) Amit Saar, who headed the Military Intelligence Research Department at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, died Wednesday night after a battle with brain cancer. He was 47.
Saar led the department from late 2020 and served as Israel’s top intelligence evaluator for over three years. He was considered among the officials who bore responsibility for the intelligence lapse that allowed for the Hamas-led invasion.
According to a Haaretz report from November 2023, Saar twice warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier that year that domestic tension over the planned judicial overhaul was encouraging Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas to potentially attack Israel.
He did not, however, manage to foresee Hamas’s assault.
After having indicated he would resign over the intelligence failures, Saar ended up stepping down in April 2024 to undergo immediate treatment for a malignant brain tumor.
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In a farewell letter to officers, he wrote, “We did not live up to what was expected of us, what we expect of ourselves.”
“From my first conversation with the brigade after October 7, even before we had clarified the first detail, I made it clear that in the moral world in which I live, I intend to take responsibility,” he continued.
IDF chief Aviv Kohavi and head of Intelligence Research Amit Saar meet with Moroccan military officials, July 20, 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)
At the time, the IDF described Saar as “an officer full of merit” who made significant contributions to Israel’s security, with then-chief of staff Herzi Halevi thanking him for his years of service.
Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, now a centrist lawmaker, eulogized Saar as a “dedicated and talented officer” whose service in the intelligence branch was “lengthy and important.”
“He looked at the [October 7] failure with courage, took responsibility for it and continued with critical intelligence operations in the war’s continuation after the huge failure,” Eisenkot said.
According to the former IDF head, Saar was one of the only officers who urged the military immediately after the massacre to concentrate its efforts on Gaza rather than expanding the hostilities to other areas. “He was part of preventing a national strategic mistake,” Eisenkot said.
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Before taking over as head of the Military Intelligence Research Department, Saar was an intelligence officer in the Southern Command.
He leaves behind a wife and three children.
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