Israeli government passed on secret plan to eliminate Sinwar and Deif twice before Oct 7

As part of the testimonies received by the investigative committee led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman, senior IDF officials testified about the Southern Command's operational plans to eliminate Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, which were blocked by the IDF chief of staff and the political echelon at least twice, Ynet reported. 

While the investigations of the military’s failures on Oct. 7, 2023, demonstrated a lack of awareness of and preparation for the so-called “Jericho Wall” plan, in which Hamas planned an invasion of Israel, the Turgeman committee found that a plan developed by IDF officers was rejected on two separate occasions. 

According to the testimonies, the Southern Command formulated a large-scale operational counter-initiative in 2022 and again in 2023, which included targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders, attacks on combat infrastructure, and limited ground maneuvers inside Gaza to locate and destroy facilities such as rocket launchers. 

The plan was apparently rejected by the political echelon, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also due to the Chief of Staff’s decision to focus on the northern arena with Hezbollah, which was perceived as a greater threat at the time. 

The report of the plan to kill both Sinwar and Deif in a coordinated strike was first reported in March of this year, and was developed by military intelligence, the Shin Bet, and the Israel Air Force. While that operation called for carrying out simultaneous strikes on the two leaders, the Turgeman investigation found that Southern Command intended to build upon the elimination of the two leaders by also carrying out additional strikes and maneuvers with up to three divisions within Gaza in an effort to significantly degrade Hamas’ ability to plan attacks against Israel. 

The plan was turned down by the previous government in 2022, and again under Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2023, on the belief that after Operation Shield and Arrow, which primarily targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas was also deterred. 

When Ynet reported on the failure to eliminate Sinwar and Deif in March of this year, the Prime Minister's Office denied that such a plan was presented to Netanyahu. 

"During 2023 – and in particular in the period preceding the October 7 massacre – the Prime Minister was not presented with a single proposal to thwart Hamas leaders in Gaza, or full readiness for it. Moreover – the security bodies even recommended not to do so,” the PMO said at the time. 

However, testimony from at least one senior officer to the Turgeman committee claims that the plan was brought before the IDF Chief of Staff, who rejected it because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s known preference for avoiding escalation with Hamas in Gaza. 

Ynet reported that the presentation of the plan in 2022 came at the initiative of the Shin Bet, following an attack in which two terrorists armed with a knife and an axe killed three Israelis and wounded four more in the city of Elad. Just a few days before that attack, Yahya Sinwar gave a speech in which he encouraged every Palestinian to grab whatever weapon they could find to carry out similar attacks. Video on Palestinian TV and social media also showed people in Khan Younis, the hometown of Sinwar, handing out sweets on the streets in celebration of the killing of the three Israelis. 

While the IDF and the political echelon decided against the strikes at the time, the elimination of the two Hamas leaders was again brought to the IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, after the escalation of violence that began in late 2022 and was still ongoing after the coalition government took power in early 2023. 

In mid 2023, despite continuing violence in Judea and Samaria, the IDF was concerned with a series of attacks in northern Israel connected to Hezbollah, especially the IED attack at the Megiddo junction. Security officials believed that the IDF should be preparing for a conflict with Hezbollah, and possibly Iran. Hamas was seen as a manageable problem. 

For many Israelis, the testimony of the the officers to the Turgeman committee indicate the need for a broad commission of inquiry to investigate all parties in the lead up to the Oct. 7 attacks, and in the days following. 

On Monday, speaking to the Knesset, Netanyahu indicated that his government will work to establish a national investigative committee containing representatives from both the coalition and the opposition.

The prime minister has continued to reject the possibility of a state commission of inquiry, claiming that most Israelis will not trust a commission appointed by the president of the Supreme Court, who is seen as a political opponent of his by many on the right.