The testimonies of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former army chief of staff Dan Halutz on last summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah were released Thursday to the public, local media reported.

The testimonies, given before the Winograd Committee probing the failures in the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah conflict, were posted online on Thursday morning.

The release is less than two weeks after the committee published its scathing public report on the government's handling of the conflict, which was called by Israel the Second Lebanon War.

The testimonies shed light on the decision making process through the eyes of the three most important figures in Israel's political and military echelons.

Officials involved with the committee's work said earlier this week that the testimonies were apt to strengthen the position of those within the political system and the general public seeking Olmert's resignation.

According to the transcript of his testimony, Olmert said that he was primarily occupied with threats on the North prior to the war.

"In all the commotion I am constantly dealing with one subject,the North," Olmert was quoted by local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth as saying.

The prime minister further explained that "we knew in advance that they (Hezbollah) would bomb our home-front targets and we could make only one decision, either we do not act at all or we act straight away. I think we had no other choice but to act immediately."

Asked if there were no other options, Olmert replied that "yes,there was another option, but this was preferable."Olmert also stressed in his testimony that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was partner to all the important diplomatic discussions.

He added that prior to the war he was told by Halutz that the army was prepared, and that all operational plans were ready and approved.

In his testimony, Defense Minister Amir Peretz explained that he went into the war with confidence in the military's ability.

"On July 12 (the first day of the war), I was not presented with a situation that the army had not trained enough or that there was any problem with the army's preparedness," Peretz said.

Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Halutz, who resigned in January, told the committee that the army's greatest failure was its inability to bring the war to a swifter conclusion.