Netanyahu brushed off concerns over Hamas ahead of Gaza war, report says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly rejected proposals to assassinate Hamas leaders, including during a meeting six days before the 7 October 2023 attack, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12.
The report, which aired on Saturday, said Netanyahu turned down plans to assassinate Yahya Sinwar, the now-killed Hamas leader, and Mohammed Deif, whom Israel alleges was killed in August - a claim denied by Hamas.
The investigation found that Netanyahu received detailed intelligence in 2014 about Hamas’ plans to invade Israel but blocked any significant responses to Hamas fighters’ activities and training near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Channel 12 also reported that in 2018, Netanyahu rejected a plan proposed by then-Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Shin Bet intelligence agency to kill senior Hamas leaders, including Sinwar and Deif. Instead, he opted to send then-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to Qatar to negotiate financial support for Hamas in exchange for maintaining calm in southern Israel.
Netanyahu reportedly opposed a similar plan presented on 1 October 2023, six days before the Hamas attack that killed over 1,100 Israelis and resulted in 250 taken captive.
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On that day, Netanyahu met with the military's chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, and Shin Bet chief Ronin Bar.
According to the investigation, Halevi believed they had to “prepare for a major campaign against Hamas”, while Bar reportedly said: “Sinwar feels increasingly free to act. He needs to be eliminated”.
Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu dismissed these plans and concerns, believing Hamas was sufficiently deterred.
The outlet also said the Israeli leader prioritised saving his political image after the war began.
“The police investigations that have been made public are just the tip of the iceberg,” a source close to Netanyahu’s office reportedly told the outlet.
“The public does not understand what happened in the prime minister’s office after 7 October. While parents still didn’t know what had happened to their children and as entire families were being taken hostage, they built a plan for how to save Netanyahu.”
The prime minister’s office denied the allegations made by Channel 12, describing them as “a recycling of baseless lies that have been refuted in the past and which are intended to discredit Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is leading Israel to unprecedented achievements on seven fronts”.
The report comes as Netanyahu faces increasing internal scrutiny, with many accusing him of refusing to take accountability for the failures of 7 October.
Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of over 44,000 Palestinians, the destruction of much of the enclave’s infrastructure and the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Deif.
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