Netanyahu Publishes His Oct. 7 Morning Timeline, Revealing 3.5-Hour Gap Before Speaking to IDF Chief

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office published his full minute-by-minute schedule for the morning of October 7, 2023 on Thursday, September 3, 2026, showing he was first alerted to the Hamas attack at 6:29 a.m., departed for the IDF's Kirya headquarters at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at 8:22 a.m., but did not hold his first direct conversation with then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi until 9:55 a.m. — nearly 3.5 hours after the assault began. Between roughly 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., Netanyahu's office said he received intelligence and field reports from military staff while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant separately convened Halevi and then-Shin Bet director Ronen Bar at 8:40 a.m. to assemble an operational picture. The release, which Netanyahu's office framed as transparency ahead of the October 27 election, was condemned by the October Council of bereaved and hostage families as 'unfathomable,' saying 'in those hours, our children, our parents, our brothers and our sisters were still alive.' Opposition leader and election rival Yair Golan called it 'unfathomable that Netanyahu was not in touch with Halevi' while 'Hamas terrorists were capturing towns, murdering and kidnapping Israelis,' and the Yashar party suggested Netanyahu had long withheld the minutes because they would reveal an absence of 'leadership, initiative, direction, or responsibility.' The timeline follows Netanyahu's September 1 remarks that aides 'deliberately chose not to wake him' before dawn on October 7.