Amit Sa’ar, head of the IDF Research Department on October 7, died on Thursday morning at the age of 47.
In mid 2024, Sa’ar was diagnosed with a malignant tumor and stepped down from his position.
Sa’ar had recently undergone special treatment in the US, but his condition deteriorated, prompting senior members of the intelligence community to visit him over the past week. In the 24 hours before his death, his medical condition worsened significantly.
In a letter to the Research Department upon concluding his role, Sa’ar took responsibility for the October 7 failure.
“In recent months, we have all experienced, and I foremost among you, a profound shock. We did not meet what was expected of us, what we expect of ourselves,” he wrote at the time.
“From my first conversation with the department after October 7, even before we examined the first detail, I made it clear that in the moral world in which I live, I intend to take responsibility. We will clarify and investigate every detail, every assessment we published, every flag we raised, but first and foremost, we will stand tall in a value statement from our command.”
Sa'ar describes chronic Gaza problem
In an interview Sa'ar gave to Walla in 2022, he described the “Gaza problem,” saying at the time that Gaza was a “chronic problem.”
“There is no solution in its current configuration, with Hamas controlling Gaza. There is certainly no political solution. To all those who want to go in and conquer Gaza, no one wants to stay in Gaza. You can conquer Gaza, but then there is one small problem: you are left with Gaza. No one wants that. Everyone has learned that it is better not to,” the former head of the Research Department said.
His funeral will be held on Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Kiryat Shaul.