Ilan Segev, a former senior official in the ISA, said in an interview on the program Ma’avirim LaRishon that an opportunity to eliminate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar arose in 2018 but was not approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Segev, the opportunity emerged in August 2018, when the Israeli government authorized the entry of Saleh al-Arouri into the Gaza Strip as part of reconciliation talks with Fatah. During that period, Israeli security services identified a concrete operational capability to eliminate both al-Arouri and Sinwar simultaneously.
Despite the operational readiness, Segev said the plan did not move forward. He stated that the political leadership - at the time led by Netanyahu - ultimately chose not to approve the strike, preventing Israel's security forces from acting on the opportunity.
Segev also pointed to an earlier case from 2013, saying that then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and then-ISA head Yoram Cohen pushed to strike Hamas tunnels that had penetrated Israeli territory. He said that this proposal, too, was blocked after failing to receive approval from Netanyahu and the other political leaders.