The Israeli military plans to launch a wide-ranging review of its ground operation in Gaza, marking a new phase in its internal investigations nearly two years after Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023 assault.
The upcoming probe, expected to begin in the coming months, will examine how the IDF conducted its ground campaign, which began in late October 2023. The review will evaluate operational planning, combat methods and decision-making and could last up to a year. It follows a series of earlier inquiries into individual battles and strategic failures from Oct. 7, most of which have concluded and are now being reviewed by a committee led by retired Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman.
The IDF is expected to appoint a senior officer, likely at the rank of major general or brigadier general, to oversee the Gaza maneuver investigation. The leading candidate is Maj. Gen. Dan Neumann, recently named head of IDF military colleges, though the appointment has not been finalized.
Unlike earlier reviews that focused on tactical-level lessons within battalions and brigades, the new probe will examine broader, systemic issues. Teams of investigators, led by senior officers, will analyze key fronts in the campaign with the goal of drawing long-term conclusions that could shape the military’s future structure—particularly in the ground forces, where significant reforms have been underway.
Military officials said the probe would also explore the lack of a preexisting operational plan for a full-scale invasion of Gaza. That gap, they said, reflected assumptions held by both military and political leaders in the years leading up to the Oct. 7 attack. In response to the unprecedented assault on southern Israel, Southern Command was forced to assemble a comprehensive war plan in just two weeks—an effort that typically requires months of preparation.
While a fall start is possible if the war winds down, IDF officials said the review will begin no later than January 2026, even if fighting continues. “It took about a year to investigate the 18-day Yom Kippur War,” one official said. “So it’s reasonable that a probe into a campaign of this length would take a similar amount of time.”
The IDF has faced growing internal criticism in recent months over its battlefield tactics. Commanders have expressed concern that the army’s strategy—issuing multi-day evacuation notices before entering populated areas—has allowed Hamas fighters to flee alongside civilians, leaving only small pockets of resistance behind. Some commanders have pushed for a shift to a “siege method,” in which troops encircle combat zones before evacuating and screening the population. Variations of that tactic have already been used in places like Jabaliya and Rafah.
In a separate development, the IDF recently handed over parts of its Oct. 7 battle investigations to the State Comptroller’s Office. The move followed an agreement between Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, resolving a dispute that had persisted since the early weeks of the war. The comptroller is expected to examine the quality of the internal reviews, in parallel with the Turgeman Committee’s ongoing work. The military has set up a dedicated coordination office for work with the comptroller.
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Turgeman is expected to submit his final report in the coming weeks. Military officials said it will include not only operational findings, but also personal recommendations that could lead to the dismissal of officers still serving in key roles who were involved in the failures of Oct. 7. The report is expected to be one of the most comprehensive and critical assessments of the war to date, with conclusions potentially approaching those of a formal state commission.