Netanyahu rejected 11 requests to kill Sinwar before Oct. 7 – report

The Prime Minister’s Office flatly denied the claim, says security chiefs blocked action.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected nearly a dozen requests to assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in 2023 prior to the Oct. 7 invasion he masterminded that triggered the two-year war in Gaza, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.

Citing a senior security official, the report said that during February and March — amid escalating tensions with Gaza, including three separate rocket attacks on Israel — the Shin Bet conducted intelligence operations focused specifically on Sinwar.

According to the official, on at least 11 occasions the Shin Bet informed Netanyahu that Sinwar’s location was known and that a high-quality assassination operation could be carried out.

The prime minister allegedly declined each recommendation and even refused to convene a Cabinet discussion on the matter.

If accurate, the report would significantly expand the number of missed opportunities to eliminate the Hamas leader.

Until now, Netanyahu was reported only once to have rejected such an operation — on Oct. 1, 2023, just six days before the Hamas-led massacre of nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel.

Channel 12 reported last February that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had sought authorization at a security meeting at the time to assassinate Sinwar but was rebuffed.

The Prime Minister’s Office immediately denied that report, saying Bar had instead recommended easing civilian restrictions on Gaza to “buy quiet” and argued against targeted killings to avoid a broader conflict.

The PMO also rejected the current accusations, stating Wednesday that reality was the opposite.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu demanded time and again to thwart the Hamas leadership, and security officials stopped this, which is well documented in the protocols,” it said.

In its April 2025 internal report on the failures that led to Oct. 7, the Shin Bet accepted responsibility for underestimating Hamas’s capabilities and intentions, but also blamed Netanyahu’s policies for strengthening the terror group.

Among other findings, the report said the agency had urged Netanyahu “for years” to approve the assassination of Sinwar as well as Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas’s military wing, but that he consistently refused.

“Netanyahu preferred the IDF’s position, of quiet in return for quiet,” the report stated.

Netanyahu was not the only Israeli leader to reject calls to target Sinwar.

In 2022, during the Bennett-Lapid unity government, the Shin Bet again recommended assassinating the Hamas leader after a wave of terror attacks, during which Sinwar openly urged Palestinians to attack Israelis with knives and axes if they didn’t have guns.

The IDF strongly opposed the idea, as did Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the proposal was shelved.

Sinwar was eventually killed in a chance encounter with an IDF patrol on Oct. 16, 2024, in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.