Shmuel Zakai (born 1963) is an Israeli Brigadier-General who was forcibly discharged from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in November 2004 by order of Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon. Zakai resigned as commander of the IDF's Gaza Division, a position he had held since March 2004, after failing a polygraph test during an investigation into leaks to the Israeli media during the Days of Penitence operation in the northern Gaza Strip in October 2004. Zakai was accused of leaking reports to the media that the IDF wanted to end the operation before the political echelon did.