Aviv Kohavi (Hebrew: אביב כוכבי; born 23 April 1964) was the 22nd Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken the oath of office on January 15, 2019.

[3] He grew up in Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa District, and was a member of the HaMahanot HaOlim Labour Zionist youth movement.

Together with a group of other commanders from the field units, including Moshe Tamir, Yair Golan, Gal Hirsch and Noam Tibon, he was one of the pushers to act against the sources of Palestinian militancy during the Second Intifada in the kasbahs and refugee camps, despite being crowded and complicated urban areas, and despite the hesitations of the IDF senior command.

[9][10] He then led the brigade in Operation Defensive Shield,[11] and in other operations throughout the West Bank against Palestinian militant infrastructure, among them, the conquest of Bethlehem and the imposition of a siege on the Church of the Nativity, in which fifty armed wanted men fortified themselves, held about 200 hostages and waged gun battles against the IDF.

[12] In 2002 during the Second Intifada while on the battlefield, Kohavi developed the use of a 5 kg hammer to break down walls and cross through homes in refugee camps to prevent his soldiers from being shot by snipers.

[15] During his service as division commander, two significant events occurred: the disengagement plan in September 2005 and the abduction of Gilad Shalit in June 2006.

[8] During his tenure, the barrier against Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon was built, at the same time the command forces conducted activities to thwart militant infrastructure from Syrian territory, along with promoting a good neighborhood project called Operation Good Neighbor on the Syrian border.

[21] Later in May, Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that he will request from the government to approve extending his tenure as IDF Chief of Staff by an additional year.

[24] On January 16, 2023, Kohavi handed over his role to Herzi Halevi and officially finished his active military service.