ISRAEL is planning a ruthless wave of assassinations to wipe out several more Hamas leaders, says a senior Israeli official.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is thought to be ramping up their efforts to end the bloody war in Gaza by picking off the terror group’s kingpins until they finally agree to a peace deal.
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The official blasted Hamas for not seeking a resolution to end the fighting and returning the remaining hostages after numerous failed attempts to reach a ceasefire deal.
He added the constant refusals has given “Israel international legitimacy to continue carrying out operations to assassinate senior Hamas members and release hostages”, report The Times.
Hamas has two remaining terror chiefs hiding out in Gaza in Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, according to Israeli intelligence.
The thugs are on the top of Israel’s hit list and are thought to be cowering out in the tunnel network under the battered city of Khan Yunis.
Who is Yahya Sinwar?
YAHYA Sinwar spent 22 years in an Israeli prison for terrorist murder and kidnap plots and spent every second honing his burning hatred for his captors.
His astonishing rise to the top of the Hamas terror tree came despite being sentenced to four life sentences in 1989 for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he suspected of working with Israel.
The bearded beast’s life was first saved when he was cured of cancer by an operation in a prison.
Then in 2011 he was freed, among 1,026 others, in a prisoner exchange for a single Israeli soldier in a deal that has been damned by his thousands of victims ever since.
Israeli intelligence chiefs told how — even while in prison — the fanatical fiend killed as many as 15 Palestinians he suspected of treachery, usually with a razor blade or machete.
And his jailers told how the evil genius dedicated his every waking moment to studying his enemy as he began plotting the conflict now raging in Gaza.
Coward Sinwar went into hiding following the October 7 massacre, where more than 1,200 people were barbarically killed.
Sinwar, dubbed Gaza’s Bin Laden’s is thought to be the number one priority as he continues to brand the mounting death toll of Palestinians as a “necessary sacrifice”.
Since the beginning of the war, over 37,000 people — mostly civilians— have died in Gaza, according to health officials under Hamas control.
Several other senior Hamas members are also sitting outside of Gaza but are on the IDF’s radar.
In the eight months since the horror October 7 attacks, Israel has already eliminated dozens of Hamas commanders including two of the groups senior figures.
Who is Mohammed Deif?
Born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri in Gaza in 1965, the terror chief has been at the top of Israel’s most wanted list for decades.
He is said to be a masterminded who has survived seven assassination attempts and has now been dubbed the new Osama Bin Laden.
As commander of the al-Qassam brigades, Hamas’s military wing, he urged Palestinians to “expel the occupiers and demolish the walls”.
He also called on followers in other countries to join the fight, sparking fears of a multi-national insurgency.
Attempts to kill the 59-year-old have claimed both his hands and legs and an eye, leaving him permanently confined to a wheelchair.
He survives by hiding out in Gaza’s underground tunnel network — which he helped plan — or moving to new safe houses every night.
There is only one picture of him.
Born in a refugee camp, he even changed his name to Deif — which means “The Guest” in Arabic — to reflect his constant moves from house to house.
Mkhaimar Abusada, professor of politics at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, said he will be “like a god to the young” after the assault.
He added: “He is exactly like Bin Laden. This is an arch-murderer.”
Operations chief Saleh al-Arouri was blasted in a planned airstrike in Beirut on January 2.
Two other Hamas commanders in Lebanon – Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam Al-Aqraa Abu Ammar – were also killed in the precision strike.
With Marwan Issa, chief of staff of the Hamas military wing of Al Aqsa Brigades being assassinated in March after the bombing of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
CEASEFIRE LATEST
At the end of May, Israel gave Hamas another chance to accept a ceasefire that could see the horrific war in Gaza finally end.
US President Joe Biden laid out the three-phase proposal detailing the offer that was backed by the US plus Egyptian mediators.
It was staged to run in a similar fashion to the first agreement in November 2023, that saw a number of hostages be released.
The withdrawal of all Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza like the besieged city of Rafah would have started the process.
In return for the withdrawal, Hamas would’ve been expected to hand over all the remaining female, child and injured hostages.
Israel says there are still around 100 hostages trapped in Gaza, alongside the bodies of 30 more.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel would have also been involved in the trade.
Hamas declined the deal despite originally saying they viewed it as “positive”.
Although, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu did label the deal a “nonstarter” after not being involved in the proposal.
Netanyahu has also been called out by many world leaders for the way he has handled the systematic take down of Hamas – leading to thousands of civilian deaths.
Former Brigadier General Shlomo Brom told The Sun that even Israeli military leaders could soon lose faith in the war and turn on the PM.
The IDF’s top brass is said to be growing concerned that their progress in dismantling the terror group has been wasted with no plan in place for after the war has ended.
It comes as Israel blasted a “repugnant” United Nations report claiming they had killed more than a dozen of its own people during the October 7 attacks.
The UN claims Israeli armed forces activated the “Hannibal Directive” which backs killing its soldiers to prevent them from becoming hostages.
The Israeli government angrily rejected the overall report, slamming the commission as “biased and tainted by a distinct anti-Israeli agenda”.
It went on to note that it ignored Hamas’s sadistic use of civilians as human shields.
The report “describes an alternate reality in which decades of terrorist attacks have been erased”, it said.
“There are no continuous missile attacks on Israeli citizens and there isn’t a democratic state defending itself against a terrorist assault.”
Israeli forces have been on a rescue mission in recent weeks trying to save hostages still trapped in Gaza.
Heart-racing footage showed the moment Israeli troops stormed into a living room and into a darkened bedroom where they found three men sheltering together.
The daring mission carried out on Saturday saw Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) rescue Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
Noa Argamani, the 26-year-old woman whose story made headlines in October after she was snatched by Hamas, was also saved on Saturday from a nearby site.
A hail of gunfire can be heard in the video as IDF troops smash open the apartment door, along with what appears to be children shouting and screaming in the background.
Shlomi, lying on a bed, holds his hands above his head in the footage as troops storm into the dark bedroom.
All four of the hostages were taken by Hamas on October 7 last year, when the terror group launched a brutal attack on the Nova music festival in Israel.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims 274 Palestinians were killed, including children, during the raid.
Joe Biden’s Ceasefire announcement
BY Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
ON Friday 31 May, US president Joe Biden gave a surprising speech where he laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel had apparently presented to Hamas.
The three stages are:
ONE: A “full and complete ceasefire”
Lasting six weeks, Israeli forces would withdraw from all densely populated parts of Gaza.
Hamas would release an unspecified number of Israeli hostages – and those of other nationalities – in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Gazans would be able to return home and humanitarian aid would be flooded into the Strip – with some 600 trucks each day.
During this phase, Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent end to the fighting – with the ceasefire lasting as long as necessary to reach that agreement.
TWO: A “permanent end to hostilities”
This would see all remaining living Israeli hostages – including soldiers – released.
Israel would withdraw all of its military presence from the Gaza Strip.
Biden said a “number of details” would have to be ironed out in order to move from the first to the second phase.
THREE: Major reconstruction of the Gaza Strip
The Palestinian enclave has been all but completely destroyed in the almost eight months of war.
Israeli troops have covered most of the area and intense fighting with Hamas terrorists along with constant airstrikes have blitzed the land to rubble in most areas.
The final phase of this ceasefire deal would see the land reconstructed – which will likely take decades.
Additionally any final remains of hostages who died in the Strip would be returned to their families.
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