Israel’s national intelligence agency, Mossad, declined to implement a recently devised plan to deploy ground operatives to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, resulting in a failed Israeli Air Force airstrike targeting a meeting of Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar’s capital, according to an exclusive report by The Washington Post.
Mossad Director David Barnea opposed the assassination of Hamas officials in Qatar, citing potential damage to the relationship his agency had built with Qatari authorities, who have hosted Hamas and mediated ceasefire talks between the terrorist group and Israel.
Instead of using Mossad operatives, Israel opted for an airstrike on Tuesday, deploying 15 fighter jets that launched 10 air-to-ground ballistic missiles targeting the Doha meeting. Hamas claimed the strike failed to eliminate senior officials, including its interim leader Khalil al-Hayya, but killed several family members and aides of the delegation, as well as a Qatari Interior Ministry official.
In addition to Barnea, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who had previously urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas, objected to the timing of the attack, fearing it could derail negotiations. Conversely, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Israel Katz supported Netanyahu’s rationale for the strike. Nitzan Alon, the senior military officer overseeing hostage negotiations, was excluded from Monday’s meeting to discuss the Doha operation, as political leaders assumed he would oppose an attack that could endanger hostages still held in Gaza.
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