The Israeli military has said its head of intelligence has resigned over failures surrounding Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack.

Aharon Haliva has become the first senior Israeli figure to step down after Hamas breached the country’s defences, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, taking roughly 250 more captive, and sparking the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Mr Haliva said shortly after the attack in October that he shouldered the blame for not preventing the assault.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the military chief of staff accepted Mr Haliva’s request to resign and thanked him for his service.

His resignation could set the stage for more of Israel’s top security officials to accept blame for not preventing the attack and step down.