The Times: Israel will assassinate Hamas leaders outside Palestine if the attacks continue

The British newspaper "The Times" said that Israel has told its allies that it is preparing to send assassination teams to kill leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) abroad, in retaliation for the deadly attacks on Israeli civilians in the past two months.

The newspaper added in

that it was believed that intelligence services in the Middle East and Europe had warned Hamas of the impending strikes.

She stated that Israel blames Hamas for incitement to Palestinians who acted on their own initiative, as well as many other thwarted attacks, and said that Hamas representatives praised the recent Elad ax operation, calling it a "heroic operation", but did not claim responsibility for it.

Raising the cost of killing Israelis

It quoted intelligence sources as saying that Israel is seeking to send a "clear message" after a year in which it committed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended the last round of the war on Gaza in May 2021. After the new escalation of attacks on civilians, the government is preparing to "raise the cost of killing Israelis."

She noted that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel was entering a "new phase in the war on terror," adding that it was establishing a civilian national guard that would be deployed in emergencies.

"The government's main goal is to restore the personal security of Israeli citizens," he said.

The Times commented that Al-Aqsa Mosque has become a flashpoint for recent tensions, with Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police clashing frequently.

She explained that there were increasing calls in Israel to "behead" Hamas by killing Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar for his call last week for the Palestinians to take up arms, but it was not clear which leaders might be targeted by the Israeli assassination squads.

Excluding assassinations in Palestine

She also said that analysts point out that any movement against Palestinian leaders on the homeland is unlikely, because this may lead to a renewal of the barrage of missiles towards Israeli cities, and they suggested that the assassinations will take place in other countries in the region where senior members of Hamas live and work.

She added, Salah al-Arouri - who runs secret military networks in the West Bank - may be targeted, along with Zaher Jabarin, who is responsible for financing the networks.

She pointed out that Hamas operatives believed to have been assassinated by Israel in the past are Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2010, Mohamed Zouari, a drone expert in Tunisia in 2016, and Fadi al-Batsh, a missile engineer in Malaysia in 2018.