Three weeks before the massacre - Netanyahu refused assassinations in Gaza from the air

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's proposal to assassinate Hamas targets in Gaza from the air, three weeks before the October 7 attack. The meeting took place on September 13, 2023, at a toast held by the Shin Bet. At the same time, Netanyahu instructed that economic benefits be advanced to Hamas in exchange for quiet, through a meeting with the Qatari envoy. The details did not appear in Bar's lawsuit against Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's proposal to carry out aerial assassinations of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, three weeks before the October 7, 2023 attack. The meeting took place on September 13, 2023, the day before Rosh Hashanah eve, during a toast with the heads of the service's departments, amid security tensions and riots along the Gaza border fence. According to a senior official who was present, Bar replied to Netanyahu that the targets could be eliminated in an office in Gaza, and Netanyahu responded: "From the air in Gaza? Only if there is a terrible attack. Otherwise something small is better." At the same time, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories worked with the Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi, at Netanyahu's instruction, to advance economic benefits to Hamas in exchange for quiet. The details are revealed after Bar filed a multimillion-shekel lawsuit against Netanyahu, but the meeting in question did not appear in the lawsuit. Netanyahu's office declined to comment.