Report: Mossad chief told spy agency he believed Hamas would have restarted hostage talks if not for Doha strike

In the aftermath of Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last week, Mossad director David Barnea sent an agency-wide letter explaining why he had been opposed to the attack, and had been unwilling for the spy agency to take part in it, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, Barnea explained that he had not wanted Israel to move forward with the strike at that time, because the targeted Hamas officials had been gathered to discuss a new US-sponsored proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages.

That meeting, he had reportedly explained, may not have ended with Hamas fully accepting the US proposal, but would have almost certainly led to progress and paved the way for both sides to return to the negotiating table.

The Mossad declined to comment on the report, Channel 12 stated.

The report adds that in the run-up to the attack, the heads of Israel’s security establishments disagreed over what they believed Hamas’s response to the ceasefire proposal would be.

The Shin Bet, which is currently being led in an interim capacity by “Shin,” the agency’s former deputy, assessed that Hamas was likely to reject the proposal entirely, while Barnea believed that it could go either way.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi both agreed with Barnea’s assessment, and the three recommended that Israel hold fire until a clearer picture emerged, the report stated.

The Shin Bet’s position that Hamas was unlikely to issue a positive response and that there was a limited window to carry out the attack was reportedly shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.