Israel, Mossad will pursue Hamas leaders even outside Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the Mossad spy agency to track down leaders of the militant group Hamas who live in countries outside Gaza. “I have instructed the Mossad to take action against the leaders of Hamas, wherever they are,” Netanyahu announced at a press conference. Most of Hamas’ top leaders live in exile, mainly in the Gulf state of Qatar and the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The Mossad has been blamed for a series of overseas assassinations of Palestinian militants and Iranian nuclear scientists over the years, and the decision puts numerous leaders of the Palestinian terrorist party in the crosshairs.

Meanwhile, Haarez, an Israeli newspaper, revealed that in recent days there has been a clear “turnaround” in the position of Israeli Defense leaders – from Minister Yoav Gallant to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy and, to a lesser extent, Bet Chief Shin , Ronen Bar – regarding the agreement to release the hostages. An issue that they initially considered “last place” in the priorities of the war, the newspaper highlights in an editorial, but which later rose in the rankings driven by protests from family members and pressure from the North American Administration. A week ago, the newspaper recalls, ministers Gadi Eizenkot and Benny Gantz were in the minority in the war cabinet in supporting the need to accept the agreement. Among senior defense officials, only the coordinator for prisoners and missing persons, Nitzan Alon, and the head of Mossad, David Barnea, agreed with them. The terms of the agreement have not changed in the last week. What changed, therefore, was the Israeli position.

In the first phase of the war, Gallant and Halevy were determined to attack Hamas, driven by a “terrible sense of guilt” for their responsibility in the October 7 massacre. The impression was that some senior officials believed that continued ground incursions would lead to better conditions for the hostages, without being able to explain how this would happen. Something happened last week, notes the Israeli newspaper, according to which the “battle between the families of those kidnapped intensified and gained increasing public support thanks to the march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and other large demonstrations”. The Ministry of Defense and army leaders realized that continuing ground operations without stopping fighting to free hostages would worsen internal division. This is where US President Joe Biden came into play, through the CIA. Biden helped close the deal – whose entry into force was postponed until tomorrow – with the help of Qatar.