Israel appoints new military chief amid crisis

Israel's incoming military chief of staff Eyal Zamir was appointed at a ceremony in Tel Aviv after the resignation of outgoing Lieutenant general Herzi Halevi over the military's failure to prevent Hamas' Oct.7 deadly rampage in 2023.

Zamir was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and became Israel's 24th military chief. The handover ceremony was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and General Michael Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command.

"We are determined to achieve the goals of the war in full: Eliminating Hamas military and governmental capabilities, returning all our hostages, thwarting any future threat from Gaza to Israel and returning our residents in the conflict zones safely to their homes.

In the face of forces which have engraved our destruction on their banner, we are determined to achieve a decision and a victory," Netanyahu said.

The change of command comes as a standoff over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza increased the risk of a resumption of fighting without an agreement to bring home the rest of the hostages still held by Hamas.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said forces could resume fighting if 59 hostages are not released.

Halevi led the military during the Israeli campaign in Gaza that killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of the enclave.

Incoming Israeli military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, said: "We won't forget, we won't forgive. This is a war of survival. We will continue to fight to return our hostages and to achieve victory. The task assigned to me today is clear: to lead the IDF to victory."

A series of official inquiries have begun to examine the failures that allowed thousands of Hamas-led gunmen to storm Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages in one of the biggest military and security disasters in Israel's history.

But Netanyahu and his government refuse the establishment of a national inquiry into the events on the day and those leading to it.