Netanyahu: Mossad ordered to target Hamas terror chiefs ‘wherever they are’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also warned that all Hamas leaders were living on ‘borrowed time.’

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening said he had directed the Mossad spy agency to target Hamas leaders wherever they may be, but did not say whether such targeted assassinations would continue during the impending ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza-based terror group.

The directive came as Netanyahu defended a ceasefire deal, slated to last between four to nine days, which includes the release of up to 98 hostages in 98 hostages held in Gaza in return for freeing Palestinian women and minors detained in Israeli prisons on security offences.

“It was a hard decision, but the right decision,” Netanyahu said of the deal.

He added that Israel worked closely with the Biden administration to improve the terms of the deal.

The ceasefire deal has came under fire from certain elements in the Knesset, chiefly from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir who called it a “dangerous precedent.”

Netanyahu underscored the Mossad’s capability to strike against Hamas leaders, suggesting potential operations beyond Gaza’s borders, and possibly in Qatar where Hamas leaders, billionaires Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, reside.

Mossad chief David Barnea was said to be in Qatar during the hostage deal negotiations.

“I instructed the Mossad to act against Hamas leaders wherever they are,” Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also warned that all Hamas leaders dead men walking.

“They are living on borrowed time,” Gallant said . “The struggle is worldwide: From gunmen in the field to those who are enjoying luxury jets while their emissaries are acting against women and children — they are destined to die.”

Netanyahu reiterated that the ceasefire was a short pause and Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza will resume once it ends. The war would continue until Israel’s goals of returning all 240 hostages and destroying Hamas was achieved he said.

“We will bring everyone back home. And when I say everyone I mean everyone,” he said, referencing two Israeli captives held by Hamas since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers believed killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

He added that the current military campaign would also make sure that “on the day after Hamas, no element that supports terrorism, or that educates its children by promoting terrorism, or pays terrorists or their families, will control Gaza.”

“Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. We will restore security in both the south and the north. We are winning and will continue to fight until total victory,” he said.

Further highlighting the complexity of the situation, Netanyahu pointed out the recent killing of Khalil al-Kharaz, the deputy commander of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades’ Lebanese branch, by an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.