Senior IDF official says political echelon halted Sinwar, Deif assassination before Oct 7

One witness described the approach as an effort to preserve stability “at almost any cost.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Senior IDF officers told an investigative panel that political leaders twice halted plans to assassinate Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, describing the missed chances as among the most consequential operational setbacks in recent years.

Testimony delivered to the committee headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman detailed proposals drafted by Southern Command in 2022 and again in 2023.

The initiatives combined precise strikes on top Hamas figures with attacks on command infrastructure and limited ground activity.

Those involved said the operations were designed to disrupt Hamas leadership at a moment when the group was openly calling for violence.

Shin Bet officials, according to those who appeared before the committee, pressed for the plan to move ahead.

They viewed Sinwar’s public rhetoric and the organization’s ongoing attacks as sufficient justification for action.

Witnesses said Cabinet officials feared that approving the operations would trigger an escalation in Gaza that the government was determined to avoid.

The committee was told that maintaining quiet and preventing a wider confrontation had become the guiding principle, even when that meant allowing Hamas leadership to continue operating in place.

One witness described the approach as an effort to preserve stability “at almost any cost.”

Officers also recounted that, in several instances, the chief of staff authorized preliminary planning, only for the political echelon to delay or decline the final decision needed to proceed.

That hesitation, they said, stalled the effort and ultimately ended it.

Senior commanders characterized the episode as the product of a flawed assessment that, in their words, led to shelving initiatives that might have altered the trajectory of events.

Yahya Sinwar was killed by IDF forces in Rafah in October 2024 after troops identified and struck the building where he was hiding, later confirming his death through DNA testing.

Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif was eliminated months later in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, ending one of Israel’s longest manhunts for a top operational architect of terrorism.