Israel will ‘eliminate’ Meshaal and Haniyeh, warns foreign minister

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned on Wednesday evening that the occupation state will “eliminate” Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal. Haniyeh is the head of the political bureau of Islamic Resistance Movement, while Meshaal is the head of Hamas abroad. They both live in Qatar.

“We will work to eliminate Meshaal and Haniyeh,” Cohen told Israeli Channel 13. “They will not die a natural death.”

There has been no comment from Hamas regarding Cohen’s threat. However, when Ronen Bar, the head of the Israeli Internal Security Agency Shin Bet, said last month that Israel will pursue the Hamas movement in Lebanon, Turkiye and Qatar, even if it takes years, the movement responded by saying that it was “not scared” by such threats.

When the channel asked Cohen about talk of replacing him with Energy Minister Israel Katz, while he will assume the energy portfolio, the foreign minister said, “It is a mistake to replace a foreign minister during a war.”

In any case, he added, “The person responsible for this is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who did not speak to me about this issue, and if the prime minister asks me to do so, I will.”

Cohen claimed that he did not ask Netanyahu to keep him in his position, in which he has served since the formation of the government at the end of last year.

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