Israel has sworn to destroy and eliminate Hamas after the October 7 attacks claiming around 1,200 Israeli lives. With strikes and counter strikes still going on, Israel is laying out plan to hunt down and kill Hamas leaders scattered across the world.
Reportedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to follow the footsteps of his predecessor Golda Meir and authorise an 'Operation Wrath of God'-like mission--to kill Israel's enemies once the Gaza war ends.
Golda Meir served as the fourth PM of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel’s first female PM, who served during one of the toughest times of the Yom Kippur War.
According to Wall Street Journal report, Netanyahu has instructed Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, to streamline a plan to execute this week. Mossad is drawing up plans to neutralise targets in Turkey, Lebanon and Qatar.
According to AFP, Hamas's political office was opened in "Qatar in 2012 in coordination with the United States government".
However, there pose a question to will Israel’s threats end by eliminating Hamas?
Who all are on Israel’s hit list
Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Khaled Mashal are some of the Hamas leaders in the hit list of Israel.
Former Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh, 60, was elected as the head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017. Reportedly, he is living in voluntary exile between Qatar and Turkey.
Deif, who heads Hamas's military wing, the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades, is the number one on the list. Reportedly, Israeli authorities have tried to assassinate him at least six times He has also been on the US list of "international terrorists" since 2015.
Sinwar, 61, is a former commander of the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades. He was elected as head of Hamas in Gaza in 2017. He has spent 23 years in Israeli jails before his release in 2011 in a prisoner exchange involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas.
According to Israeli authorities, there were reports that some of the hostages had encountered Sinwar during their captivity.
Khaled Mashal, is another leader, who is a founding member of Hamas Politburo and was the chairman until 2017. His current whereabouts are believed to be in Qatar.
Mashal was at the centre of a sensational assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.
Fighting in Gaza stretched into second day
Since the Israel-Hamas truce expired on Friday, Gaza has been witnessing severe bombardments. According to the Health Ministry, nearly 200 people died since the truce ended.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday. Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that one of its fighters was killed in the attacks. Reportedly, three people in south Lebanon were killed by Israeli shelling on Friday in south Lebanon.
According to Israel military, two mortar bombs launched from Lebanon fell in open areas in Shomera, across the border from the south Lebanon village of Marwahin.
Over 100 people have been killed in Lebanon during the hostilities, 83 of them were Hezbollah fighters.
Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the truce deadline lapsed on Friday.
Israel said its ground, air and naval forces struck more than 200 “terror targets” in Gaza.
On Friday, health official in the coastal strip said Israeli strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others.
Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.
