Five days after the strike on a Hamas leadership complex in Qatar, Israel has still not obtained full certainty about the results of the attack, according to a report this morning (Sunday) on Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio).
According to the report, Israeli security officials believe that the strike did not achieve its main objective - the elimination of the entire Hamas leadership residing in the country. At this stage, two main possibilities are being examined: that the leaders were present at the location and escaped unharmed or were lightly injured, or alternatively - that they received prior warning and escaped in a coordinated move.
According to an updated Israeli assessment, Qatar is actively working to assist Hamas in concealing the results of the strike and is even cooperating with the organization in a broad deception effort.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted last night on X (formerly Twitter) to the failure of the assassination attempt in Qatar, writing: “The Hamas terrorist leaders residing in Qatar do not care about the residents of Gaza. They blocked all ceasefire attempts to prolong the war endlessly. If we get rid of them - we will remove the main obstacle to freeing all the hostages and ending the war.”
At the same time, senior American officials commented on the matter, stating that “Israel should not have violated Qatar’s sovereignty in its action against the Hamas leadership.”
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter addressed the assassination attempt on senior Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar’s capital, in an interview on the program “This Morning” with Aryeh Golan on Kan Reshet Bet, expressing cautious optimism regarding the operation’s results - less than a day after Netanyahu had effectively admitted its failure. “The fact that several days have passed since the strike without information may indicate that more were hit than reported,” he claimed.