Report: Hamas worried Israel will target its leaders ‘in a non-Arab state,’ takes steps to prevent it

Hamas is concerned that Israel may try to target its terror operatives and leaders abroad and has instructed them to take additional precautionary measures, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reports.

Citing unnamed Hamas sources, the newspaper reports that the terror group is concerned Israel will carry out strikes similar to the attack on Doha in September, when the IDF targeted, but failed to kill, senior Hamas leaders as they gathered to discuss efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

The sources say that despite assurances from the US that Israel will not carry out such a strike again, the Hamas leaders are not reassured.

One of the sources tells Asharq Al-Awsat that “there are assessments that the movement’s [Hamas’s] leaders may be targeted in a non-Arab state,” but does not say which.

As such, the Saudi newspaper reports that Hamas leaders abroad have been issued new guidelines aimed at preventing them from being killed in Israeli operations.

The steps include a ban on meetings in fixed locations, with the Hamas officials instructed to instead meet at a different location each time.

Attendees will not be allowed to bring mobile devices within 70 meters of any meeting spot, the report says, for fear that they will be tracked via phone signal.

Meetings must not take place in any buildings with “air conditioners, internet routers, television screens or even home intercom systems,” the report adds.