Global pursuit of Palestinian and Hezbollah leaders: Israel's decades-long history of targeted assassinations

Report by Ahmad Abdallah, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Over the decades, Israel has carried out numerous assassination operations targeting leaders of Palestinian armed movements and hostile countries. Assassinations are a key strategy Israel uses to enhance security and deter its adversaries.

The primary Israeli security agencies involved in these operations are Mossad, Shin Bet, and the Israeli military. 

The methods used in these assassinations vary widely, including booby-trapped packages, silenced pistols, car bombs, sniper attacks, poisoning, drones, and direct airstrikes to ensure the target is eliminated. 

To gather intelligence, Israel relies on advanced systems like Lavender and Pegasus, which can track the target's location and movements and collect crucial information.

Israeli assassinations are not confined to leaders within the occupied territories but extend to multiple countries. 

Inside Palestinian territories, Israel has eliminated several figures, such as the spiritual leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, in 2004, and the military leader of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari, in 2012. The latest assassination claim by Israel, which Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied, is the assassination of Mohammed Deif, the military commander of Hamas, in July.

Outside Palestine, Israel has targeted multiple Palestinian leaders. 

The most recent was Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Tehran. His deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed earlier in 2024 in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs. In 2010, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a commander in the al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in his Dubai hotel room. Israeli crimes reached Malta, where it assassinated Fathi Shaqaqi in 1995 as he was leaving a hotel.

In Jordan, there was an attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashal by poisoning him, but the former Hamas political bureau chief and current frontrunner to succeed Haniyeh survived miraculously that day. 

In 1988, Israel assassinated Khalil al-Wazir, known as Abu Jihad, at his home in Tunisia; he was the military commander of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) at the time.

Israeli assassinations are not limited to Palestinian leaders; Hezbollah leaders have also been frequent targets, and the latest was Commander Fouad Shokor. 

Notably, Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander, was assassinated in 2012 by a car bomb in Syria's capital, Damascus, among many others.

Israel continues to use this strategy to achieve its security objectives, reflecting its determination to confront its adversaries by any means necessary. 

However, these operations often lead to escalating violence and complicate the ongoing conflict in the region.