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(I24) Israeli officials have openly stated that the goal of the ongoing war is elimination of Hamas, and its leaders residing across the Middle East are no exception
Israel’s intelligence services are seeking to kill Hamas leaders around the world after the war ends, Israeli officials told WSJ. The report, published on Thursday, cited Israeli sources claiming that the country has already started the preparation for targeted killings abroad.
“The question now for Israeli leaders isn’t about whether to try to kill Hamas leaders elsewhere in the world, but where—and how, the officials said,” claims WSJ.
The terrorist group’s members are known to hide across the Middle East: in Lebanon, Qatar and Turkey – but Israeli officials have explicitly said that this shall be no obstacle in the nation’s quest for Hamas elimination. Earlier in November, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at a press conference: “I have instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.”
At the same press conference, the nation’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said the Hamas leaders were “marked for death. The struggle is worldwide, both the terrorists in Gaza and those who fly in expensive planes.”
According to WSJ, some Israeli officials intended to commence the targeted killings campaign shortly after the October 7 attack. For example, the report refers to Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli general a former chief of Israeli military’s intelligence agency, said the campaign “is what justice demands.”
However, this idea, even after almost two months since the terrorist group’s attack on Israel, is not supported by everyone. The report cited Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad director, who called the plan “far-fetched.”
Halevy said: “Pursuing Hamas on a worldwide scale and trying to systematically remove all its leaders from this world is a desire to exact revenge, not a desire to achieve a strategic aim.”
Earlier on Monday, Le Figaro reported that Qatar received assurances from Israel that the Mossad will not eliminate terrorist leaders on the Gulf Emirate’s soil. Qatari officials are said to believe that destruction of Hamas would not be so easily for Israeli intelligence.