Report: Mossad pushed back on carrying out plan it drew up to use agents on the ground to kill Hamas leaders in Doha

The Mossad pushed back on carrying out a plan it had recently drawn up for its agents on the ground to assassinate Hamas leaders in Doha, The Washington Post reports, citing two unnamed Israeli sources familiar with the matter.

Mossad chief David Barnea opposed implementing the plan, fearing it would rupture his agency’s relationship with Qatar, which has been mediating hostage talks between Israel and Hamas.

The Post says that the Mossad’s pushback led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go with an airstrike on Hamas’s compound in Doha, deploying 15 fighter jets that launched 10 missiles from afar — apparently with limited success.

Israel’s security establishment backs the need for eliminating all of Hamas’s leaders, but pushed back on the timing and location of this week’s operation before being overruled by Netanyahu.

“We can get them in one, two, or four years from now, and the Mossad knows how to do it,” one of the Israeli sources told The Post, referencing the possibility of covertly assassinating Hamas leaders anywhere in the world at a later date. “Why do it now?”

Joining Barnea in opposing this week’s strike was IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, while Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Israel Katz backed the operation.

Nitzan Alon, the IDF’s point man for hostage talks, was not invited to the ministerial consult ahead of the strike.