2nd Israeli army commander resigns amid Gaza war

JERUSALEM

The chief of the Israeli army's Central Command plans to resign in August, in the second such resignation by military commanders on Monday, according to Israeli media.

Major General Yehuda Fox informed Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi of his intention to step down in August after a 3-year tenure as the general in charge of the West Bank region, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported.

KAN, however, did not specify the reason behind Fox’s planned resignation, which was announced hours after Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, head of the Israeli army's Military Intelligence Directorate, resigned over his failure to predict the Hamas attack.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said Fox’s resignation was not related to the failure to predict the Hamas attack.

The newspaper said Fox is a possible candidate to assume higher posts in the army as investigations into the Hamas attack are likely to result in the ousting of some top generals.

The resignations came as Israel continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 34,151 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 77,00 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara