Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologised Sunday for accusing security and intelligence officials of failing to see signs of the devastating Hamas attack that set off the Gaza war.
Netanyahu, who has faced strong opposition criticism over security lapses before the October 7 Hamas attack, had made his accusations in an overnight posting on X, formerly Twitter, which he later deleted, replacing it with an apology.
"Never, under any circumstance, was Prime Minister Netanyahu alerted to Hamas' intent to launch a war," he wrote in the now-deleted post.
"On the contrary, all security officials, including the head of military intelligence and the head of Shin Bet (internal security agency), believed Hamas was deterred.
"This was the evaluation that was submitted time and again to the prime minister and the (security) cabinet by all security officials and the intelligence community, right until the war broke out," it read, the message posted in the middle of the night.
The post was published on X hours after Netanyahu gave a press conference late Saturday, in which he was asked if he had been warned about the danger of an attack.
It was deleted on Sunday morning and replaced a few minutes later.
"I was wrong," he declared in the new post.
"Things I said following the press conference shouldn't have been said, and I apologise for that.
"I fully back all the heads of the security establishment. I back the military chief of staff, and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) who are on the front and fighting for our home. Together we will win," he wrote.
At Saturday's press conference, Netanyahu said there had been a "terrible failure" before the attacks which Israel says left 1,400 dead, most of them civilians, during which Hamas militants also snatched 230 hostages from kibbutz communities, towns and military bases across southern Israel.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 8,000 people have been killed in Israeli air and ground strikes since October 7.
"There was a terrible failure and this will be examined intensively. No stone will be left unturned. For the moment, my mission is to save the country, and lead the soldiers to a total victory over Hamas and the forces of evil."
Several political analysts say the right-wing prime minister's political career will be ended after the war over the security failures given that he has made Israel's defence a cornerstone of his political campaigns.
The Likud party chief would face considerable pressure if an independent inquiry found the government was negligent. Although Netanyahu has said there will be an investigation, he has given no details about how it would be handled.