Probe Says Israel was Unprepared for Tunnel Threat in 2014 Gaza War

An Israeli state inquiry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top army brass Tuesday of being unprepared for the strategic threat of tunnels used by Hamas militants during the 2014 Gaza war.

"The political establishment, the military establishment and the intelligence bodies were aware of the tunnel threat and even defined it as strategic," state comptroller Yossef Shapira wrote in a report.

"And yet the actions taken to deal with the threat did not match this definition."

The report said Netanyahu and then-defense minister Moshe Yaalon failed to provide ministers with "significant and essential information" necessary to make "well-informed decisions" on the situation in Gaza ahead of the war.

The findings of the two-year inquiry sparked a frenzy among Israel's political establishment prior to their official Tuesday release, with critics of Netanyahu using the opportunity to slam the premier's allegedly flawed decision-making process.

The 2014 war killed 2,251 Palestinians and left 100,000 homeless, according to the U.N. On the Israeli side, 74 people were killed, all but six of them soldiers.

Destroying the tunnels and stopping Gaza-based Palestinian militants launching rockets into Israel were the key declared goals of Israel's third offensive in the coastal territory in six years.