IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Monday hit back at Defense Minister Israel Katz, after the latter ordered a re-investigation of the military’s review of its internal probes into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

Continuing the ongoing back and forth, Katz doubled-down on his decision in response to Zamir, insisting that the defense establishment comptroller will issue recommendations regarding the IDF’s review of the internal within 30 days.

Following Katz’s statement, Hebrew media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to summon Zamir and Katz for a private meeting aimed at resolving the public dispute.

A separate meeting — to be held either before or after — will bring together members of the wider defense establishment for a situational assessment, given heightened tensions on the northern border, after an IDF strike on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s military chief.

In his statement on Monday, Zamir accused Katz of harming the military’s preparedness by freezing promotions he had made for 30 days. He said he was informed of Katz’s moves on Monday morning via the media, while he was at a snap drill in the Golan Heights.

Zamir said that the report prepared by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman and other former senior officers regarding October 7 “was defined from the outset for the chief of staff’s use, to examine the quality of investigations and integrative lessons-learned processes in the IDF, and not for political use.”

He defended the report and called Katz’s decision “puzzling.” He said Turgeman’s team “heard more than hundreds of testimonies, conducted in-depth examinations, and carried out a professional process.”

“An alternative 30-day review by the defense establishment comptroller, without detracting from his dignity, is not relevant,” Zamir said, after Katz announced that Defense Establishment Comptroller Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Volansky would submit a review of Turgeman’s report within a month.

“The IDF is the only body in the country that thoroughly investigated its own failures and took responsibility for them,” Zamir continued.

“If any further review is required to complete the picture, it must take the form of an external, objective, and independent committee” that will look into topics including “the interface between the military and political echelons,” he said.

Regarding Zamir’s decision to dismiss officers and censure others over their failures on October 7, something that Katz also ordered Volansky to examine, the chief of staff said, “These are internal command measures within the IDF that do not require approval.”

“The insinuation that the criteria, which were examined with utmost seriousness, are not equal is inappropriate, especially in light of the amount of time and deliberation the chief of staff personally invested in deciding with respect to each and every officer,” Zamir said.

The chief of staff said Katz’s decision to freeze promotions in the IDF for 30 days “harms the IDF’s capability and its readiness process for upcoming challenges.”

Zamir still said that he will “continue conducting staffing discussions as planned, in accordance with his authority, and will forward them to the minister for approval as required.”

Katz announced his decision a day after Zamir dismissed several senior officers and censured others for their roles in the October 7 failures, based on the findings of Turgeman’s probe that found the IDF’s own investigations into its failures inadequate or unacceptable.

Katz has been fighting a months-long, escalating campaign against Zamir over senior IDF appointments by selectively promoting officers and denying the appointments of others with whom he apparently does not see eye to eye. Some military officials have warned that Katz is attempting to politicize the army by taking control of senior appointments.

“I appreciate the chief of staff, who knows well that he is subordinate to the prime minister, the defense minister, and the government of Israel,” Katz said in a statement, responding to Zamir on Monday. “I do not intend to argue through the media.”

“The defense establishment comptroller will submit his conclusions within 30 days, and only afterward will I formulate my decisions on the appointments, as required by my role and authority,” Katz added.

On Monday evening, unnamed senior IDF officials blasted the defense minister in comments to Channel 13 news, charging, “Minister Katz is not interested in Iran or Hezbollah — but Likud elections. A red line was crossed today. This is not a tactical incident. For seven months, the Turgeman report was worked on, and now Katz stops all the appointments. He is interfering with the work.”

“We are talking about the security of the county. The chief of staff will not fold and stand on his hind legs. Zamir doesn’t have a base. He won’t allow politics to enter the IDF. This is all in the lead-up to the Likud committee and primaries,” the officials said.

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz on Monday voiced strong support for Zamir for taking “a difficult and necessary step” by holding commanders accountable for their roles on October 7, 2023.

“I want to back Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who imposed and demanded personal responsibility from commanders. This is the role of the chief of staff,” Gantz, himself a former IDF chief of staff, said ahead of a faction meeting.

“I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Eyal to call his brothers-in-arms of decades and hold them accountable and impose sanctions, but this is necessary for the IDF and for the country,” said Gantz, himself a former chief of staff.

Yisrael Beytenu chair MK Avigdor Liberman accused the government of failing to fully defeat Hamas and Hezbollah while also politicizing the army.

Despite two years of war and a claimed “total victory,” Israel today faces “an open front in Gaza and in Lebanon” as well as one in Iran, Liberman told reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“The strengthening of Hezbollah and Hamas is greater than the damage we are inflicting on them. They are becoming stronger than ever,” he said, referring to recent IDF strikes against the two terrorist groups.

Beyond the current military challenges, Israelis now also find themselves faced with a “new front” in the form of a conflict between Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, he continued.

This “madness” is “dangerous” and the “only way to reach the truth is a state commission of inquiry” that will investigate “absolutely everyone,” said Liberman, calling on those in the coalition “who feel a minimal sense of responsibility” to “stand up and support the establishment” of such a probe.

“There is another message that emerges from this event, and that is the politicization of the army. People no longer advance based on abilities and professional skills, but according to connections. They advance based on how close they are and on who is more of a ‘yes man.’ Politicization will destroy the army,” alleged Liberman, a former defense minister.

Since he became defense minister in late 2024, Katz has canceled the appointments of several senior officers chosen by Zamir and his predecessor, Herzi Halevi.

Some of the promotion hold-ups appeared to have a rational justification, while others were met with puzzlement in the military.

Katz also delayed the promotion of dozens of colonels and brigadier generals for weeks, claiming that they had been made by Zamir without consultation. He also has yet to rule on the appointments for three major general roles, with the officers currently staffing them nearing the end of their tenures.

Typically, senior appointments, aside from those of top generals, are brought to the defense minister for approval following internal IDF meetings on the matter. Katz has falsely claimed that, by law, he is responsible for senior promotions in the military.

Katz publicly slammed the military chief in August for announcing a list of senior appointments, claiming Zamir had done so without consulting him. At the end of the month, the two announced that they had reached an understanding on the army’s appointment process, though the feud seems to have resurfaced.