The IDF released the first report of an inquiry into the events at the start of the war. This one deals with events at Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October. There will be many more such inquiry reports from the IDF. So far, there is not a national inquiry panel. The political leaders seem averse to having their behavior examined (and probably with good reason).
The principle facts in the current report are that the IDF failed to defend the Kibbutz for several critical hours. When IDF forces did arrive, they were not committed correctly. One Kibbutz civilian was probably killed by fire from an IDF tank that was intended to frighten the terrorists. The Kibbutz reaction squad was highly outnumbered, even when a handful of individual soldiers joined them. They fought to protect their homes at odds of 1 to 10 (or more) for hours, while the IDF higher commanders failed to mobilize a rapid reinforcement.
The report does not make recommendations regarding disciplinary actions (or heroism awards) but does make clear that there were definitely failures in command and communications, especially during the early hours of the Hamas attack.
Wetherhorn 