Major General (res.) Gershon Hacohen, the officer who commanded former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's evacuation plan from Gush Katif, stated in an interview with Channel 13 that if the 2005 Disengagement had not taken place, the October 7 massacre would not have happened.
He added, "I was in favor of keeping Gush Katif in place. I thought that its existence was right, and I didn't think anything good would come out of the evacuation." He noted that he had asked for forgiveness and even stated, "It is legitimate and right to dream of settlement in the Gaza Strip."
Rabbi Yigal Kirshenzaft, who met with Hacohen, said, "Anyone involved in the expulsion - it is a crime against the people of Israel. I’m glad there is someone asking for forgiveness, and I hope he understands the mistake. My hope is that we learn the lesson and that no one will think of evacuating Judea and Samaria anymore, God forbid."
Hacohen responded, "I understand the anger towards me, and there is a right to be angry at me. They have a reason. My accountability is primarily to Heaven."
Hacohen noted that the evacuation of Gush Katif created conditions that led to the events of October 7, 2023. He listed three things that happened because of the Disengagement: The abandonment of the Philadelphi Corridor led to a flow of working rockets coming from both Iran and Libya. "The arming with this weaponry after the Disengagement, due to the abandonment of the Philadelphi Corridor, turned the issue into something else, a strategic threat to the point of strategic balance in the mutual threat to Israel."
"The second thing that happened is that all the settlements of Gush Katif offered the possibility to divide the Gaza Strip. Netzarim divided the north from the south, so even today the Netzarim Corridor is important." According to him, the evacuation of Israeli settlements damaged the operational distribution within the Gaza Strip. "From the moment the Disengagement was implemented, Gaza essentially became a binary space of the literal idea of 'they are there, and we are here.'"
The third thing is that after the Disengagement, Hamas succeeded in taking control and eliminating the Palestinian Authority's hold: "From that moment, they created a built-up army with companies, battalions, brigades, a control and command system — in Gaza, a threat to us was created, with a de facto army, a de facto state that is located on the border of Nahal Oz, a five-minute drive away."