Netanyahu reportedly rejected killing Yahya Sinwar before Oct. 7: Hebrew media

Less than a week before the October 7 Hamas-led operation inside ‘Israel’, then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and recommended a targeted assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

According to a security source cited by Hebrew media, the meeting took place on October 1, 2023.

Bar also proposed additional assassinations of other senior Hamas figures.

The source said Bar warned that the Shin Bet had identified Hamas as “preparing something extreme” and used the term “earthquake” during the conversation.

The recommendation to act against Sinwar and other top officials was presented to the prime minister, but Netanyahu did not accept it.

“The reports that have emerged recently on this matter are accurate,” the security source stated.

The new account builds on earlier reporting.

Hebrew Channel 12 had previously claimed that Bar sought authorization at a security meeting on October 1 to kill Sinwar and that Netanyahu ignored the request.

The Prime Minister’s Office at the time called that report a “complete lie,” asserting that Bar had instead recommended granting civilian benefits to Hamas in exchange for quiet and opposed targeted strikes to avoid escalation.

Netanyahu’s office has maintained that the prime minister repeatedly pushed to eliminate Hamas leadership while security officials blocked such action, claims it says are documented in meeting minutes.

Separate reports in early 2026 alleged Netanyahu declined as many as 11 opportunities in the months before October 7 to authorize Sinwar’s assassination after the Shin Bet located him and judged an effective operation feasible.

Those claims were also denied by Netanyahu’s office, which insisted the reverse was true.

Sinwar, widely regarded as the architect of October 7, was later killed by ‘Israeli’ forces in Rafah in October 2024.