ISRAEL is planning a ruthless wave of assassinations to wipe out several more Hamas leaders, says a senior Israeli official.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is thought to be ramping up their efforts to end the bloody war in Gaza by picking off the terror group's kingpins until they finally agree to a peace deal.
The official blasted Hamas for not seeking a resolution to end the fighting and returning the remaining hostages after numerous failed attempts to reach a ceasefire deal.
He added the constant refusals has given "Israel international legitimacy to continue carrying out operations to assassinate senior Hamas members and release hostages”, report The Times.
Hamas has two remaining terror chiefs hiding out in Gaza in Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, according to Israeli intelligence.
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The thugs are on the top of Israel's hit list and are thought to be cowering out in the tunnel network under the battered city of Khan Yunis.
Sinwar, dubbed Gaza's Bin Laden's is thought to be the number one priority as he continues to brand the mounting death toll of Palestinians as a "necessary sacrifice".
Since the beginning of the war, over 37,000 people — mostly civilians— have died in Gaza, according to health officials under Hamas control.
Several other senior Hamas members are also sitting outside of Gaza but are on the IDF's radar.
In the eight months since the horror October 7 attacks, Israel has already eliminated dozens of Hamas commanders including two of the groups senior figures.
Operations chief Saleh al-Arouri was blasted in a planned airstrike in Beirut on January 2.
Two other Hamas commanders in Lebanon - Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam Al-Aqraa Abu Ammar - were also killed in the precision strike.
With Marwan Issa, chief of staff of the Hamas military wing of Al Aqsa Brigades being assassinated in March after the bombing of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
CEASEFIRE LATEST
At the end of May, Israel gave Hamas another chance to accept a ceasefire that could see the horrific war in Gaza finally end.
US President Joe Biden laid out the three-phase proposal detailing the offer that was backed by the US plus Egyptian mediators.
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It was staged to run in a similar fashion to the first agreement in November 2023, that saw a number of hostages be released.
The withdrawal of all Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza like the besieged city of Rafah would have started the process.
In return for the withdrawal, Hamas would've been expected to hand over all the remaining female, child and injured hostages.
Israel says there are still around 100 hostages trapped in Gaza, alongside the bodies of 30 more.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel would have also been involved in the trade.
Hamas declined the deal despite originally saying they viewed it as "positive".
Although, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu did label the deal a "nonstarter" after not being involved in the proposal.
Netanyahu has also been called out by many world leaders for the way he has handled the systematic take down of Hamas - leading to thousands of civilian deaths.
Former Brigadier General Shlomo Brom told The Sun that even Israeli military leaders could soon lose faith in the war and turn on the PM.
The IDF's top brass is said to be growing concerned that their progress in dismantling the terror group has been wasted with no plan in place for after the war has ended.
It comes as Israel blasted a "repugnant" United Nations report claiming they had killed more than a dozen of its own people during the October 7 attacks.
The UN claims Israeli armed forces activated the "Hannibal Directive" which backs killing its soldiers to prevent them from becoming hostages.
The Israeli government angrily rejected the overall report, slamming the commission as "biased and tainted by a distinct anti-Israeli agenda".
It went on to note that it ignored Hamas's sadistic use of civilians as human shields.
The report "describes an alternate reality in which decades of terrorist attacks have been erased", it said.
"There are no continuous missile attacks on Israeli citizens and there isn't a democratic state defending itself against a terrorist assault."
Israeli forces have been on a rescue mission in recent weeks trying to save hostages still trapped in Gaza.
Heart-racing footage showed the moment Israeli troops stormed into a living room and into a darkened bedroom where they found three men sheltering together.
The daring mission carried out on Saturday saw Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) rescue Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
Noa Argamani, the 26-year-old woman whose story made headlines in October after she was snatched by Hamas, was also saved on Saturday from a nearby site.
A hail of gunfire can be heard in the video as IDF troops smash open the apartment door, along with what appears to be children shouting and screaming in the background.
Shlomi, lying on a bed, holds his hands above his head in the footage as troops storm into the dark bedroom.
All four of the hostages were taken by Hamas on October 7 last year, when the terror group launched a brutal attack on the Nova music festival in Israel.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims 274 Palestinians were killed, including children, during the raid.
