Israel will step up attempts to assassinate Hamas leaders in an effort to force the militant group to accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza, according to a senior Israeli official.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “following the refusal of the leadership of Hamas to accept the deal, Israel has international legitimacy to continue carrying out operations to assassinate senior Hamas members and release hostages”.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israel has killed dozens of mid-level Hamas commanders and two of the group’s most senior figures. Saleh al-Arouri, the operations chief, was assassinated in a drone strike on a Hamas office in Beirut on January 2, and Marwan Issa, chief of staff of the Hamas military wing, Al Aqsa Brigades, was killed on March 10 in a bombing of his compound in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The two remaining senior Hamas leaders in Gaza are Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, who are believed by Israeli intelligence to be hiding in the tunnel network under the city of Khan Yunis. Senior Hamas members outside Gaza, including members of its political bureau, are deemed targets as well.
Hamas has refused to accept the framework for a ceasefire deal that was proposed by the Israeli war cabinet and endorsed by the United States, as well as by the governments of Egypt and Qatar which have served as mediators.
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The Israeli proposal involves three stages. The first is a six-week truce during which Israeli forces will leave built-up areas in Gaza, and Hamas will release about 30 hostages, most of them women, elderly people and sick people, in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. During the truce, talks are to begin on the second stage of the plan, which will lead to a more comprehensive ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners.
Last Tuesday Hamas delivered its response to the proposal. It demanded that Israel commit, with international guarantees, to the full ceasefire before the first stage of the deal and withdraw its forces from the entire Gaza Strip during that stage.
• Why is Hamas cautious over Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel?
“Hamas proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table. Some of the changes are workable and some are not,” Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said during a visit to the region. “It was a deal that Israel accepted and the world was behind. Hamas could have answered with a single word: ‘Yes.’ Instead, they waited almost two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it has previously presented and agreed to. As a result, the war will go on and more people will suffer.”
Israel’s position on the agreement is less clear-cut than Blinken would like, however. Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has told him in private that he stands by the proposal, but in public he has preferred not to refer to it, instead promising that Israel will continue fighting “until victory over Hamas”. Netanyahu is afraid of his far-right coalition partners, who have threatened to leave his government if the deal is implemented.
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However, the Israeli security establishment, including the Israel Defence Forces and the Shin Bet domestic security agency, support the deal and believe that Israel should prioritise the release of the 120 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom at least 43 are already presumed dead.
Senior security officials believe that because Hamas has refused the deal, more assassinations of its leaders would be a way to pressing it to change its position.
