Israel’s vaunted intelligence failed to thwart one of the worst attacks against the country almost two years ago.
But Israeli operations (military and intelligence-backed), inside Gaza and in wider West Asia, have since successfully targeted the Hamas leadership, according to Israel’s Ambassador to India Reuven Azar.
Hamas militants entered towns and villages in southern Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others, including children and the elderly, on October 7, 2023. In retaliation, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and launched extensive ground-offensive campaigns. The United Nations (UN) has estimated that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, a large number being children and women, in the ongoing war. Forty-eight Israeli hostages remained in Hamas captivity at the end of September.
“About 95 per cent of Hamas’ leadership,” including its military echelon, has been taken out, Azar, who once served in a paratrooper battalion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and joined the New Delhi post in August 2024, told the Blueprint in an interview.
In a major operation, on September 9, multiple Israeli fighter jets struck a government compound in an affluent district with waterfront villas in Doha, Qatar, where senior Hamas officials had gathered to discuss a ceasefire deal that the United States (US) proposed. The Israeli government said many attendees were killed. Hamas said in a media statement that while six people were killed, the targeted officials survived.
Azar said, “even if all Hamas leaders weren’t killed”, the strike sent “a very strong message, which is in sync with UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1373 that prohibits the harbouring of terrorists”.
Israel has long accused Qatar of sheltering Hamas’ top political leadership. Qatari officials have said Hamas’ office in Doha was set up in 2012 at the US’ request for backroom talks. The UNSC condemned the strike, which was a first by Israel against Qatar, a US ally in the region.
“What we are saying is, we are not going to agree to or legitimise the hosting of terrorists in any way, in any place, and that Israel maintains the right to go after them, wherever they are. So, the responsibility lies with those who are hosting them, and not with the State of Israel.”
Azar said, on the one hand, Qatar relies on the US for security, but on the other hand, Qatar promotes “anti-Israeli, anti-American agendas, and jihadi elements that are very dangerous and pose a threat, not only to Israel and the US but to the entire world, including India”.
Israel had earlier urged India to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation, like the US and the European Union have done. Hamas is not on the Indian government’s list of banned organisations yet. India, which supports the two-state solution of the Palestine issue, has close defence and security ties with Israel.
Israel has conducted other major operations against Iran-backed armed groups in West Asia such as Hezbollah in Lebanon last year, when Israel reportedly planted wafer-thin explosives in electronic pagers.
Azar did not give information on any IDF or Israeli intelligence operations but said that Israel would continue to use technology — “an advantage” it has — especially in hybrid warfare.
“Sophisticated means” are necessary “to surprise the enemy” that is not bound by international norms “unlike democracies that fight terrorism”, he added.
“We will have to continue using creative ways, because, first of all, they minimise collateral damage. And second, they can narrow this gap that we have.”
When asked if Israel’s actions are affecting its relationship-building with some countries in the neighbourhood, Azar said, “To a certain extent, it’s creating a challenge because we’ve been targeting those elements across the Arab world.”
But such concerns seem to be “overstated when you look more carefully at the situation”, he added.
Hamas, Hezbollah, and the (Yemen-based) Houthis aside, Iran has supported smaller armed groups in the region.
“The ‘Iran axis’ has been debilitated substantially. It is more deterred. You can see that from the way in which, despite the military strikes (in June) by Israel and the US, Iran is seeking cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN watchdog).”
The US targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in the air raids by B-2 bombers. But critics in the US media said earlier that the extent of the damage was unclear.
More recently, the UNSC voted to keep economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
On Israel-US relations, Azar said, “We don’t always see eye to eye on everything. But the exception doesn’t show the rule. And the rule is that we are pretty closely aligned.”
Azar said the regional dimension of the ongoing war is dissipating. “What is left (for Israel) is to finish the job in Gaza.”
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 "Israel will continue to use 'creative ways' to surprise enemies: Ambassador")
