'Marked for death': Israel draws up plan to kill Hamas leaders around the world

After completing its operation in Gaza, Israel will hunt down Hamas leaders across the world. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked spy agencies in the country to draw up plans to assassinate Hamas’ top leaders living outside of Gaza in Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Israel has been carrying out secret operations to assassinate senior Hamas leaders for decades now and the latest plot is an extension of it. Countries like Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia have provided a haven to Hamas. Under its previous plans, Israel has been able to hunt down Hamas terrorists disguised as women in Beirut and tourists in Dubai. On November 22, Netanyahu said, “I have instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.” In the same address, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas leaders are living in “borrowed time.” “They are marked for death. The struggle is worldwide, both the terrorists in Gaza and those who fly in expensive planes,” Gallant said. An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that soon after the October 7 attack some officials called for the launch of an immediate campaign to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and other leaders living abroad. However, such an operation on Turkish or Qatari soil would have torpedoed diplomatic efforts to free hostages. Meanwhile, an ex-Mossad director Efraim Halevy has called Israel’s latest plans ill-advised. “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,” Halevy said adding that the plan is “far-fetched”. As of last month, Israel has claimed to have killed over 60 senior and mid-level Hamas leaders in Gaza since the October 7 attack. Last month, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the house of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was bombed by an Israeli drone. As per media reports, a missile was fired at Haniyeh’s home in the Al-Shathi neighborhood in northern Gaza. It is however not clear whether any of his family members were at home when the strike occurred.