Jerusalem, 3 September, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s State Comptroller on Wednesday released a scathing report holding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior ministers personally responsible for catastrophic failures in civilian management during the ongoing war with Hamas.
“During the difficult time for the State of Israel, the overall management of the civilian side was deficient, lacking, and weak,” said State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, whose office periodically audits government preparedness and policy effectiveness.
The report, covering January-May 2024, documented systematic breakdowns that left hundreds of thousands of civilians without adequate support. Englman found that for 17 years since the Second Lebanon War, successive governments failed to create a unified authority to coordinate civilian emergency response. This long-standing gap undermined the government’s ability to assist thousands forced to evacuate near the Gaza and Lebanon borders.
Netanyahu, who led Israel for 13 of the 14.5 years prior to the war, was sharply criticized. The report said he “did not ensure, by using his powers — including his authority to set the government’s agenda — that a solution was provided to the fundamental deficiency known since the Second Lebanon War.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also faced criticism for failing to use his authority as head of the socio-economic cabinet, responsible for civilian wartime management. The cabinet held only five meetings in the first year of war, ignoring urgent matters such as business compensation, employment challenges, and psychological support.
Former Defense Minister Yoav Galant was censured as well, with the report noting that defense ministers “failed to regulate their status for years” regarding emergency response bodies under their command, including the Home Front Command.
Englman described a chaotic, uncoordinated landscape. Government agencies ran 48 separate hotlines across 33 bodies, often addressing identical issues without coordination. This created confusion for citizens and bureaucratic duplication, costing approximately NIS 93 million ($27.5 million) in wartime advertising over four months.
“Hundreds of thousands of residents experienced firsthand the failures of the Israeli government in managing the civilian sector,” Englman wrote, citing shortages of essential workers, mental health professionals, and government representatives at evacuation sites. Efforts to establish functional civilian management structures largely collapsed. The Israeli Civilian Administration, designed as the socio-economic cabinet’s executive arm, closed in March 2024 after just two and a half months due to inadequate staffing and budgets.
Smotrich’s office defended the minister, noting that “mountains of legalization and Israeli bureaucracy” hindered rapid decision-making. It said the ministry successfully supported 200,000 evacuees and 300,000 reservists while maintaining the economy during “the largest and most prolonged civil crisis the State of Israel has ever known.”
Englman concluded with an urgent call for reforms, stating that “the political echelon, and in particular the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Defense” must act immediately to establish proper civilian war management systems.
Netanyahu has resisted calls for a formal state commission of inquiry, calling it “politically biased.” Critics accuse him of delaying and weakening the probe. Such commissions, led by senior Supreme Court justices, can summon witnesses, collect evidence, and make recommendations, though the government is not required to follow them. Israel’s last commission, investigating a Mount Meron stampede that killed 45, held Netanyahu personally responsible in 2024.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 48 remaining hostages, about 20 are believed to be alive.
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