{"id":139570,"date":"2025-09-12T22:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/139570\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T22:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:03:10","slug":"mossad-said-to-have-refused-to-carry-out-ground-op-to-kill-hamas-leaders-in-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/139570\/","title":{"rendered":"Mossad said to have refused to carry out ground op to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mossad spy agency refused to carry out a planned ground operation to kill Hamas\u2019s leaders in Doha, fearing that the operation would doom hostage-ceasefire talks and damage the agency\u2019s ties with Qatar, a key Mideast mediator, the Washington Post<\/a> reported Friday.<\/p>\n

Instead, Israel was forced to carry out airstrikes, which Israel\u2019s security establishment now increasingly believes failed to kill any of Hamas\u2019s top brass who were gathered at the site of\u00a0 Tuesday\u2019s strike in Doha.<\/p>\n

That assessment was strengthened Friday, when Hamas announced that its Qatar-based leader Khalil al-Hayya performed funeral rites for his \u201cmartyred\u201d son Hammam, effectively negating initial rumors that the terror group\u2019s chief was killed in the attack.<\/p>\n

Amid the fallout from the apparent failed strike, reports began to emerge of significant opposition to the plan, both in the way it was carried out and the timing amid ongoing hostage talks.<\/p>\n

A senior official with knowledge of talks on the hostage release-ceasefire deal told Channel 12 that most of the defense establishment recommended that the attack be put off.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe position was clear \u2014 there is a deal for the return of the hostages on the table, and the negotiations should be exhausted. Everyone understood the consequences for the hostages and that an operation like this at the current time could harm this possibility,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

L-R: Defense Minister Israel Katz, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu\u2019s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, and acting Shin Bet head \u201cMem\u201d are seen at the agency\u2019s command center during strikes on Hamas in Qatar, September 9, 2025. (Shin Bet)<\/p>\n

Channel 12 reported that the plan was opposed by IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir, Mossad chief David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.<\/p>\n

It said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, acting Shin Bet chief known as \u201cMem,\u201d and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were in favor of the attack.<\/p>\n

Nitzan Alon, who heads the hostage negotiations, was reportedly not invited to the discussion on the operation, with top officials assuming he would object to any action that could endanger the hostages.<\/p>\n

The Mossad spy agency even declined to carry out a ground operation to assassinate the Hamas leaders it had drawn up, forcing the adoption of an air strike, two Israelis familiar with the matter told The Washington Post on Friday.<\/p>\n

Mossad chief Barnea opposed killing the leaders in Qatar due to the spy agency\u2019s relationship with Doha as well as its role as a mediator in talks with Hamas, the sources said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Mossad chief David Barnea attends a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s announcement of the strike said it had been carried out by the Air Force, in conjunction with the Shin Bet security service. The operation was even monitored from a Shin Bet command center.<\/p>\n

The Shin Bet is normally tasked with domestic security, while the Mossad handles operations abroad.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post report noted that it was the Mossad that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last year. The agency was also heavily involved in Israel\u2019s surprise attack on Iran earlier this year and famously spearheaded the exploding pager operation on thousands of Hezbollah operatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, Mossad was unwilling to do it on the ground,\u201d the Washington Post quoted one of the Israelis as saying, adding that the agency viewed Qatar as an important intermediary in talks with Hamas.<\/p>\n

Another Israeli familiar with the dissent from the Mossad questioned Netanyahu\u2019s timing. \u201cWe can get them in one, two, or four years from now, and the Mossad knows how to do it,\u201d he said, referring to the possibility of covertly assassinating Hamas leaders anywhere in the world. \u201cWhy do it now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

This frame grab taken from an AFPTV footage shows smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in Doha\u2019s capital Qatar on September 9, 2025. (Photo by Jacqueline PENNEY \/ AFPTV \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The Post said that the Mossad did not respond to a request for comment. The prime minister\u2019s office, which oversees the Mossad, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

None of the top leaders killed<\/p>\n

As the Israeli security establishment increasingly believes that none of Hamas\u2019s leadership was killed in the strike, it has begun checking whether the terror group\u2019s top brass was even in the building that was targeted, Channel 12 reported Friday evening.<\/p>\n

The other possibility still being examined is that the Hamas leaders were in a different part of the building than the section that was hit directly, the report said.<\/p>\n

The report noted that Israel, fearing an even greater backlash from Qatar if there had been significant local casualties, had likely used very precise munitions that targeted specific rooms in the building and not ones with larger warheads that could have ensured the destruction of all in the building, as Israel had deployed in Gaza and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The security establishment believes that one or two Hamas leaders may have been injured \u2014 potentially al-Hayya among them. This could explain Hamas\u2019s decision not to release a photo of him in its statement announcing that he is still alive.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Damage is seen after an Israeli strike targeted a compound that hosted Hamas\u2019 political leadership in Doha, Qatar on September 10, 2025 (AFP)<\/p>\n

Another scenario being checked is whether the Hamas leaders managed to get a heads-up at the last minute, which enabled them to escape ahead of time, though that would mean that top officials like Hayya didn\u2019t alert his slain son.<\/p>\n

A Hamas source told the Al Araby TV network on Friday that the terror group did not receive any prior warning from an external source over the attack, and that the survival of the Hamas leadership was the result of security arrangements by the terror group and Qatar.<\/p>\n

A defense source cited by Channel 12 tried to paint a more positive picture, charging that the strike \u201cdid its job\u201d even though it apparently failed to kill any of the intended targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cInside Hamas, voices are being heard that Israel is an unexpected enemy, and this scares them. When they see what happened in Qatar, they fear what may happen in Gaza,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Hamam and the other acknowledged victims were buried Thursday.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

People attend a funeral held for those killed by an Israeli attack in Doha, including Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force, at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in Doha, Qatar, September 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a video feed. (Qatar TV\/Reuters TV via REUTERS)<\/p>\n

Hamas said al-Hayya was able to hold a ceremony for his son thanks to \u201cspecial security arrangements\u201d in Qatar. It was not immediately clear if al-Hayya took part in the main ceremony or a separate private one.<\/p>\n

Hamas did not publish a corroborating photo of al-Hayya\u2019s presence and none of the top leaders believed to have been present at the site of the attack have\u00a0been spotted publicly since the strike, as Hamas and Qatar have tried to maintain an information vacuum since.<\/p>\n

Al-Hayya has been heading Hamas\u2019s hostage negotiating team.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Hamas\u2019s Khalil al-Hayya during an interview in Istanbul, April 24, 2024. (AP\/ Khalil Hamra, File)<\/p>\n

The strike on Qatari soil sparked a fierce diplomatic backlash against Israel, with even US President Donald Trump said upset with Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

Politico reported<\/a> Thursday that Trump\u2019s administration is growing frustrated with the prime minister, after Israel attempted to eliminate Hamas leaders in Qatar while they were said to be gathered to discuss the US-proposed framework for a hostage release deal earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

Trump himself said Tuesday that he was \u201cvery unhappy about every aspect [of the strike]. We\u2019ve got to get the hostages back, but I\u2019m very unhappy about the way that went down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamas identified the dead as Jihad Labad, head of the office of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya; al-Hayya\u2019s son; and three others described as \u201cassociates\u201d \u2014 either advisers or bodyguards: Abdallah Abd al-Wahid, Muamen Hassouna and Ahmad Abd al-Malek. In addition, a Qatari security officer, Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, was killed.<\/p>\n

Doha will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit next Sunday and Monday to discuss the Israeli attack, Qatar\u2019s state news agency reported earlier on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mossad spy agency refused to carry out a planned ground operation to kill Hamas\u2019s leaders in Doha,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-139570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}